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BT.  MICHAEL'S  COLLEGE 
JORONT' 


THE     LIFE 


OF 


JOHN    MILTON: 

NARRATED  IN  CONNEXION  WITH 
THE  POLITICAL,  ECCLESIASTICAL,  AND  LITERARY 

HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

BY 

DAVID  MASSON,  M.A.,  LLD.,  Lirr.D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  RHETORIC  AND  ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH 
AND  HISTORIOGRAPHER  ROYAL  FOR  SCOTLAND 

VOL.  II. 
1638-1643. 

NEW  AND  REVISED  EDITION 


iontjon 
MACMILLAN   AND    CO. 

AND   NEW  YORK 
1894. 

[The  Right  of  Translation  it  reserved.] 


MAR  2  6  1955 


PREFACE  TO  VOL.  II.,   FIRST  EDITION. 

\VIIKN"  I  first  undertook  this  Work,  it  was  my  deliberate 
purpose  to  make  it  not  only  a  complete  Biography  of  Milton, 
but  also,  in  a  certain  studied  connexion  therewith,  the 
channel  of  which  might  widen  or  narrow  itself  on  occasion, 
a  continuous  Political,  Ecclesiastical,  and  Literary  History  of 
Ki inland  through  Milton's  whole  Time.  This  I  announced 
in  the  title  of  the  Work,  and  in  my  Preface  to  the  First 
Volume ;  but  I  am  not  sure  that  the  announcement  made 
way  fast  enough  to  adjust  that  Volume  at  once  to  pre- 
conceived ideas  of  literary  form.  Now,  while  it  is  the 
right  of  the  public  to  say  what  they  want  in  the  shape  of 
a  book,  it  is  equally  the  right  of  an  author  to  say  what  he 
means  to  offer;  and,  accordingly,  I  repeat  that  this  Work 
is  not  a  Biography  only,  but  a  Biography  together  with  a 
History.  As  regards  the  extent  and  minuteness  of  the  in- 
cluded Biography,  I  do  not  anticipate  that  there  will  be  much 
<  nn i plaint.  Of  brief  Lives  of  Milton  the  number  is  already 
past  counting ;  I  have  been  guilty  of  more  than  one  such 
myself:  if  anything  more  is  wanted,  it  certainly  seems  to 
be  some  such  larger  and  more  particular  Biography  as  that 
which  I  am  now  prosecuting.  What  may  be  less  according 
to  precedent  and  expectation  is  the  combination  of  such  a 
Biography  with  a  contemporary  History.  The  reason  for 
the  combination,  however,  lies  deeper  than  my  own  mere 
pleasure  in  the  toil  of  a  complex  enterprise.  Whatever  may 
l»y  a  hasty  person  looking  in  on  the  subject  from 


iv  PREFACE. 

the  outside,  no  one  can  study  the  Life  of  Milton  as  it  ought 
to  be  studied  without  being  obliged  to  study,  extensively 
and  intimately,  the  contemporary  History  of  England,  and 
even,  incidentally,  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  too.  Experience 
has  confirmed  my  previous  conviction  that  it  must  be  so. 
Again  and  again,  in  order  to  understand  Milton,  his  position, 
his  motives,  his  thoughts  by  himself,  his  public  words  to  his 
countrymen,  and  the  probable  effects  of  those  words,  I  have 
had  to  stop  in  the  mere  Biography,  and  range  round,  largely 
and  windingly,  in  the  History  of  his  Time,  not  only  as  it 
is  presented  in  well-known  books,  but  as  it  had  to  be  re- 
discovered by  express  and  laborious  investigation  in  original 
and  forgotten  records.  Thus,  on  the  very  compulsion,  or  at 
least  by  the  suasion,  of  the  Biography,  a  History  grew  on 
my  hands.  It  was  not  in  human  nature  to  confine  the 
historical  inquiries,  once  they  were  in  progress,  within  the 
precise  limits  of  their  demonstrable  bearing  on  the  Biography, 
even  had  it  been  possible  to  determine  these  limits  before- 
hand ;  and  so  the  History  assumed  a  co-ordinate  importance 
with  me,  was  pursued  often  for  its  own  sake,  and  became, 
though  always  with  a  sense  of  organic  relation  to  the 
Biography,  continuous  in  itself.  I  venture  to  think  that 
this  incessant  connexion  of  the  History  and  the  Biography 
in  my  own  thoughts  through  many  years,  the  History 
always  sending  me  back  more  fully  informed  for  the 
Biography,  and  the  Biography  again  suggesting  new  tracks 
for  the  History,  is  a  sufficient  warrant  for  the  form  of  the 
publication.  In  the  present  volume,  however,  I  have  adopted 
an  arrangement  which  may  suit  most  readers.  A  glance  at 
the  Table  of  Contents  will  show  what  the  reader  is  to  expect 
throughout,  and  will  enable  him  to  select  or  to  omit.  Only 
I  should  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  History 
is  not  offered  as  a  mere  popular  compilation,  to  serve  as 
stuffing  or  setting  for  the  Biography,  but  as  a  work  of 
independent  search  and  method  from  first  to  last,  which  has 


PREFACE.  V 

cost  more  labour  by  far  than  the  Biography,  and  for  which 
I  accept  equal  responsibility. 

It  was  ray  wish  to  publish  Volumes  II.  and  III.  together  ; 
and,  though  Volume  II.  now  appears  by  itself,  Volume  III. 
is  ready  for  the  press,  and  will  follow  speedily.  Even  so,  in 
recognition  of  much  friendliness  towards  Volume  I.,  the 
interval  between  that  Volume  and  this  continuation  may 
seem  to  need  an  apology.  Well,  I  will  not  say  but  that,  if 
there  had  been  any  extraordinary  or  universal  avidity  for 
the  continuation,  it  might  have  been  forthcoming  somewhat 
sooner.  Frankly,  however,  I  can  aver  that  I  have  always 
been  faithful  in  secret  to  my  undertaking,  and  have  devoted 
to  it  as  much  time  as  other  indispensable  duties  would 
}H  unit,  and  more  than  is  likely  ever  to  be  recompensed  by 
anything  added  to  the  pure  love  of  the  labour.  Of  the  multi- 
plicity and  extent  of  the  researches  that  were  required  any 
general  account  would  be  tedious  here.  There  are  indications 
of  my  authorities,  at  the  proper  points,  in  the  footnotes ; 
where  also  I  have  made  various  acknowledgments  of  private 
help  and  kindness.  Perhaps,  however,  I  may  advert  specially 
to  my  obligations  to  the  State  Paper  Office  in  London. 
Where  there  are  printed  calendars  of  the  State  Papers,  the 
task  of  consulting  them  is  easy ;  one  knows  from  the. 
calendar  what  each  paper  is  about,  and  asks  for  the  original 
of  any  particular  paper  one  wants  to  see.  Unfortunately, 
\\  IK -n  I  began  my  readings  in  the  great  national  Kepository, 
the  Domestic  Papers  for  the  period  of  most  interest  to  me 
were  utterly  uncalendared.  They  had,  therefore,  to  be 
brought  to  me  in  bundles  (sometimes  several  thick  bundles 
for  one  month),  and  inspected  carefully  paper  by  paper,  each 
on  chance,  lest  anything  useful  should  be  skipped.  In  this 
way  I  had  to  persevere  at  a  slow  rate  in  my  readings  and 
note-takings  ;  but  I  believe  I  can  now  say  that,  for  much  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  embraced  in  the  present  Volume,  there 
is  not  a  single  domestic  document  extant  of  those  that  used 


vi  PREFACE. 

to  be  in  the  State  Paper  Office  which  I  have  not  passed 
through  my  hands  and  scrutinized.  Apart  from  the  informa- 
tion derived  for  my  immediate  purposes,  it  was  a  valuable 
education.  It  is  rather  long  ago  now ;  and,  as  I  write,  the 
memory  rises  of  old  summer-days  passed  in  a  room  in  the 
State  Paper  Office,  then  located  in  St.  James's  Park,  and  of 
the  faces  of  a  few  others  I  used  then  to  see  constantly  in 
the  same  room,  quietly  busy,  like  myself,  among  the  hand- 
writings of  the  dead.  Alas  !  and  of  the  kindly  officials  who 
were  then  so  ready  with  their  aid,  there  was  one,  among  the 
kindliest  of  all  and  the  fullest  of  knowledge,  whom  I  shall 
never  more  see,  to  interrogate  or  to  thank.  How  much  of 
learning  in  English  History  through  the  reigns  of  James  and 
Charles  and  the  Time  of  the  Commonwealth  died  with  the 
gentle  and  accurate  Mr.  John  Bruce  !  With  his  name,  if 
with  any,  I  may  appropriately  connect  one  closing  remark 
addressed  especially  to  those  few  readers  who  may  bring  to 
these  pages  something  of  his  practice  in  records  and  strict 
eye  for  truth.  Accuracy  in  History  is  everything  ;  without 
accuracy,  all  else  is  but  as  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling 
cymbal.  This  I  have  tried  to  make  my  canon  throughout ; 
and  yet  I  will  here  confess  that  I  never  can  pass  a  sheet  of 
the  historical  kind  for  the  press  without  a  dread  lest,  from 
inadvertence  or  from  sheer  ignorance,  some  error,  some  blun- 
der even,  may  have  escaped  me.  That  there  are  errors  in 
this  Volume,  some  of  which  will  be  detected  soon,  and  others 
never,  I  have  no  doubt.  Let  me  hope  that  those  who  agree 
with  me  most  strongly  in  the  main  canon  will  be  the  readiest 
to  admit  also  that,  when  the  range  of  inquiry  is  widened, 
when  the  beaten  tracks  are  left  and  one  explores  the  thickets 
on  both  sides  for  facts  worthy  of  resuscitation,  the  risk  of 
error  is  necessarily  increased. 

EDINBUUGH  :  March  1871. 


PREFATORY  NOTE  TO  THE  PRESENT  EDITION. 

IN  this  reprint,  long  required,  the  opportunity  has  been 
taken  of  inserting  in  Chapter  II.  of  Book  I.  such  new 
information  as  has  been  obtained  respecting  the  circum- 
stances of  the  death  of  Charles  Diodati  during  Milton's 
absence  abroad,  and  also  of  rectifying,  in  the  text  at  pp. 
367-368  with  footnotes  there,  a  mistake  of  some  importance 
respecting  John  Durie.  Only  at  these  two  points  has  there 
been  any  disturbance,  and  that  but  slight,  of  the  paging  of 
the  First  Edition. 

EDINBURGH  :  August  1894. 


CONTENTS. 

BOOK  I. 

APRIL  1638— NOVEMBER  1040. 

HISTORY:— THE   SCOTTISH   PRESBYTERIAN   REVOLT,   AND   ITS   EFFECTS 

ON  ENGLAND. 

BIOGRAPHY:— M.ILTO*  HACK  IN  Ks< .1  AND:   His  EPITAPHWX DAUONIS, 
AND  LITERARY  PROJECTS. 

CHAP. 

I.  Charles's  Difficulties  with  the  Scottish  Covenanters  :  Mission  of  the 
Marquis  of  Hamilton  into  Scotland. — Lord  Lorne  and  the  Argyle 
Family  at  this  juncture  :  Montrose  among  the  Covenanters : 
Hamilton's  protracted  negotiations  with  the  Covenanting  leaders : 
Concession  at  last  of  their  demand  for  a  General  Assembly  of  the 
Scottish  Church  :  Preparations  for  the  Assembly. — Composition  of 
the  Glasgow  General  Assembly  of  Nov.-Dec.  1638:  Its  First  Pro- 
ceedings :  Declinator  of  its  authority  by  the  Scottish  Bishops : 
Efforts  of  Hamilton  to  overawe  the  Assembly :  Adhesion  of  Lord 
Ix>rne,  now  Earl  of  Argyle,  to  the  Covenanters  :  Proclamation 
dissolving  the  Assembly  :  Its  continued  Sittings  :  Its  Acts  con- 
demning recent  ecclesiastical  innovations,  deposing  the  Bishops, 
abolishing  Episcopacy  in  Scotland,  and  re-establishing  Presbytery. 
—  Excitement  in  England  over  the  news  from  Scotland:  Effects 
of  the  news  at  Court :  Resolution  of  Charles  for  a  War  with  the 
Scots  :  His  Preparations  :  Counter-preparations  of  the  Covenanters: 
Choice  of  Field-Marshal  Sir  Alexander  Leslie  as  Commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Covenanting  Army :  Suppression  of  Anti-Covenanting 
demonstrations  in  A  berdeenshire.— Reluctant  march  of  the  F.nglish 
levies  northwards,  and  departure  of  Charles  from  London,  27th 
March  1639,  to  be  with  them  in  person  :  King  nt  York,  29th 
April  :  Hot  reception  in  the  Firth  of  Forth  of  the  Auxiliary  Fl.-et 
under  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  :  King  and  his  Army  at  Berwick 
upon  Tweed,  28th  of  May  :  Skirmishes  on  the  Borders,  and 
Advance  of  Leslie's  Army  to  Dunse  :  Description  of  the  Cove- 
nanting Army  on  Dunse  Law  :  Disorganisation  of  the  King's 

1  'vert urea  for  a  Treaty  with  the  Covenanters  :  Conl'm 
for  the  purpose:  Issue  in   The  Pacification  of  It  irks,  ratifying  the 
ppicei-.iings  of  the  Scots  hitherto,  and  guaranti-ein^  them  annual 
Assemblies  of  the  Kirk  ami  free  Parliaments  in  future:   Disband- 
ment  of  the   Koyal  Army,   24th  June,  and  en-linu'   »f  '/"    • 
Bishops'  War.— Chagrin  of  Charles  :  Evidences  of  this  during  the 


CONTENTS. 

additional  month  spent  by  him  on  the  Scottish  Border  :  His  return 
to  London,  29th  July,  without  having  entered  Scotland. 

Pages  1-71 

II.  Milton  back  in  England  in  July  or  August  1639  :  Incidents  in  the 
Horton  household  during  his  fifteen  months  of  absence  abroad  : 
Old  friends  and  acquaintances  :  Recovered  particulars  as  to  the 
date  and  circumstances  of  the  death  of  Charles  Diodati :  Milton's 
JSpitaphium  Damonis :  Translation  of  this  Latin  Pastoral,  and 
comments  upon  it.  —  Occupation  of  Milton's  thoughts  with  the 
project  of  an  Epic  on  the  subject  of  King  Arthur  and  the  British 
Arthurian  Legends  :  His  determination  that  this  Poem  should  be 
in  English  and  not  in  Latin.— Resolves  to  remove  from  Horton 
and  make  London  his  head -quarters  :  Family -reasons  for  this 
resolution  :  Second  marriage  of  Milton's  sister  :  Lodgings  taken 
by  Milton  in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard,  Fleet  Street :  His  sister's 
two  sons  by  her  first  marriage,  Edward  and  John  Phillips,  put 
under  his  charge  for  their  education. — Milton's  occupations  in  the 
St.  Bride's  Churchyard  lodging  through  the  winter  of  1639-40  : 
Importance  in  his  biography  at  this  point  of  the  preserved  Volume 
of  Milton  MSS.  at  Cambridge  :  Proofs  from  this  volume  that 
Milton  had  abandoned  his  project  of  an  Arthurian  Epic  :  Tran- 
script of  the  seven  pages  of  the  Cambridge  volume  containing 
jottings  in  Milton's  own  hand  of  about  100  subjects,  partly  Biblical 
and  partly  from  British  History,  noted  by  him  as  fit  for  poetic 
treatment :  Indications  in  these  jottings  of  the  nine  or  ten  subjects 
'  that  fascinated  him  most :  Proof  that  Paradise  Lost  was  already 
the  subject  paramount  in  his  regards  :  His  four  several  sketches 
of  a  Tragedy  on  this  subject :  Independent  proof,  however,  that  he 
was  balancing  in  his  mind  the  relative  advantages  of  the  Epic  form, 
the  Dramatic,  and  the  Lyric,  for  his  intended  great  English  Poem. 
—  Interruption  of  these  literary  schemings  and  musings  by  the 
political  events  of  1640 Pages  72-121 

III.  State  of  Scotland  after  the  Pacification  of  BirTcs :  Another  General 
Assembly  of  the  Kirk  in  August  1639  :  Subsequent  Parliament, 
and  appointment  of  a  Committee  of  the  Estates. — Alarm  among 
the  English  Clergy  of  danger  to  English  Episcopacy  from  the  re- 
establishment  of  Presbytery  among  the  Scots  :  Bishop  Hall  the 
spokesman  of  this  alarm  :  His  correspondence  with  Laud  on  the 
subject :  Publication  in  February  1639-40  of  Hall's  Episcopacy  by 
Divine  Eight  Asserted:  Other  pamphlets  for  and  against  Episcopacy. 
— Continued  chagrin  of  Charles  over  his  bad  success  in  Scotland  : 
His  correspondence  with  Wentworth  in  Ireland  :  Arrival  of  Went- 
worth  in  England  :  Resolution  of  Charles  for  a  Second  Bishops' 
War  against  the  Scots,  and  for  calling  an  English  Parliament  to 
provide  the  means  :  Preparations  of  various  kinds  meanwhile  : 
Wentworth  made  Earl  of  Strafford  and  raised  to  the  full  Lord- 
Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  :  Subscriptions  among  the  English  Nobles 
for  the  new  war :  Presence  in  London  of  Commissioners  from  the 
Scottish  Committee  of  Estates  :  One  of  them,  Lord  Loudoun, 
arrested  and  committed  to  the  Tower  on  a  charge  of  High  Treason. 
— Meeting  of  the  English  Parliament,  13th  April  1640  :  The 
Parliament  dissolved  after  three  weeks,  and  known  consequently 
as  THE  SHORT  PARLIAMENT  :  Continued  sitting  and  voting  of  the 
Clergy  in  Convocation  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Parliament. — 
Arrests  of  prominent  Puritans  in  the  late  Parliament,  and  of  other 
sympathisers  with  the  Scots  :  Riots  in  London  and  Southward : 
Story  of  John  Archer. — Lord  Conway  at  Newcastle,  in  chief  charge 
of  the  musters  for  the  King  there  :  Reassembling  of  the  Scottish 
Parliament  2nd  June  1640,  and  reappomtment  of  Leslie  as  the 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAP. 

Scottish  Commander-in-chief:  Meeting  at  Aberdeen,  28th  July, 
of  another  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  :  Precautions  against 
Anti- Covenanting  risings  in  Aberdeenshire  and  the  Highlands: 
Leslie  and  his  Army  at  their  old  rendezvous  on  the  Border  early 
in  August :  Resolution  of  the  Scottish  leaders  to  act  on  the  aggres- 
sive this  time  :  March  of  the  Scottish  Army  into  Northumberland, 
20th  August :  Hurry  of  the  King  and  Stratford  to  York  :  Fight  at 
Newburn,  28th  August,  and  discomfiture  of  Con  way :  Newcastle 
occupied  by  the  Scots,  and  the  whole  of  the  North  of  England  in 
their  possession.  —  Paralysis  of  the  King's  counsels  at  York  : 
Petitions  to  him  for  the  immediate  calling  of  another  English 
Parliament :  His  device  of  a  Great  Council  of  the  English  Peers  at 
York  instead  :  Insufficiency  of  the  device,  and  consent  of  the  King 
to  the  meeting  of  a  Parliament  at  Westminster  on  the  3rd  of 
November:  Negotiations  at  Ripou  meanwhile  for  a  Treaty  with 
the  Scots :  Preliminary  Articles  agreed  upon,  16th  October,  and 
the  negotiations  adjourned. — Anxieties  of  Laud  at  Lambeth  :  His 
Draft  Prayer  for  the  opening  of  TUB  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

Pages  122-145 


BOOK  II. 

NOVEMBER  1640-AUGUST  1642. 

HISTORY:— FIRST  TWO-AND-TWENTY  MONTHS  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

BIOGRAPHY : — MILTON  IN  ALDERSOATE  STREET  :   His  ANTI-EPISCOPAL 

PAMPHLETS. 

I.  Meeting  of  THE  LONO  PARLIAMENT  at  Westminster,  3rd  November 
1640 :  View  of  the  Composition  of  the  Two  Houses,  with  enumera- 
tion and  biographical  sketches  of  the  most  notable  of  the  Peers  and 
the  Commoners. — Summary  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Parliament  through  the  first  nine  months  of  its  sittings  (Nov.  1640 
— Aug.  1641) : — I.  Release  and  Compensation  of  Victims  of  the 
recent  "Reign  of  Thorough":  Cases  of  William  Prynne,  Henry 
Burton,  John  Bastwick,  John  Lilburne,  Dr.  Alexander  Leighton, 
and  Richard  Chambers. — II.  Punishment  of  Delinquents :  Arrests 
of  Strafford  and  Laud,  Flight  of  Lord  Keeper  Finch  and  Secretary 
Windebank,  Retirement  of  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  and  Lord 
Cottington,  and  threatened  Prosecution  of  Bishops  Wren  and 
Pierce  and  other  Churchmen:  Trial  and  Doom  of  Strafford.— III. 
Measures  for  the  Security  and  Perpetuation  of  Parliament :  Bill  for 
Triennial  Parliaments :  Resolution  for  the  Common  Safety  :  Bill 
for  the  Indissolubility  of  the  present  Parliament  without  its  own 
consent.  —  IV.  Miscellaneous  Civil  Reforms  :  Denunciation  and 
abolition  of  Trade  Monopolies  :  Abolition  of  the  Star  Chamber  and 
the  Court  of  High  Commission  :  Restraint  on  Arbitrary  Taxation 
by  the  Crown  :  Abolition  or  Revision  of  anomalous  Jurisdictions. 
— V.  Conclusion  of  the  Scottish  Treaty  :  Resumption  in  London  of 
the  Negotiations  between  the  English  and  the  Scottish  Com- 
missioners: List  of  the  Scottish  CoinmiHsioners  then  in  London: 
Vote  of  £300,000  of  Indemnity  to  the  Scots,  in  addition  to  the 
£850  per  day  already  agreed  uj>on  for  the  expenses  of  the  Scottish 
Army  in  bgbad:  Hospitalities  of  the  City  of  London  to  the 
Scottish  Commissioners  :  Popularity  among  the  Londoners  of 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAP. 

Henderson,  Baillie.  Blair,  Gillespie,  and  other  Scottish  preachers : 
Supposed  abatement  of  the  Covenanting  zeal  of  the  Earl  of  Rothes  : 
English  Poll-Tax  of  June  1641  for  the  Indemnity  and  Arrears  due 
to  the  Scots :  Formal  Conclusion  of  the  Treaty,  August  1641,  and 
Evacuation  of  the  North  of  England  by  the  Scottish  Army. — 
Paramount  importance  all  this  while  of  THE  QUESTION  OF  ENGLISH 
CHURCH  REFORM  :  First  utterances  of  Pym  and  others  on  the 
subject:  Various  anti-Laudian  votes  and  orders. — Analysis  of  the 
state  of  opinion  in  Parliament  and  throughout  the  Country  as  to 
the  desirable  future  Constitution  of  the  Church  of  England  : — I. 
The  High  Church  Party,  or  Party  of  Episcopacy  by  Divine  Right : 
This  Party  all  but  dormant  since  the  overthrow  of  Laud,  but  its 
relics  represented  in  chief  by  Bishop  Hall. — II.  A  Moderate  or 
Broad  Church  Party,  advocating  a  Limited  Episcopacy  :  This  Party 
strengthened  by  the  recent  migration  of  Archbishop  Usher  from 
Ireland  into  England,  and  represented  most  conspicuously  among 
the  English  Clergy  by  Bishop  Williams  of  Lincoln. — III.  A  Root 
and  Branch  Party,  demanding  the  total  abolition  of  Episcopacy, 
and  the  setting  up  in  England  of  a  Church  somewhat  after  the 
Scottish  Presbyterian  model :  This  Party  comparatively  weak  for 
the  present  among  the  Clergy,  but  with  resolute  lay-leaders  in  both 
Houses,  and  represented  outside  of  Parliament  by  a  band  of 
Puritan  parish  ministers Pages  147-202 

II.  Removal  of  Milton  from  his  lodgings  in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard  to  a 
House  of  his  own  in  Aldersgate  Street :  Description  of  the  Alders- 
gate  Street  neighbourhood  in  1640,  and  identification  of  the  site 
of  Milton's  house  :  His  neighbours  in  the  Aldersgate  Street  suburb. 
— Both  his  boy-nephews  now  boarded  with  him  :  Edward  Phillips's 
recollection  of  his  uncle's  occupations  and  habits  in  the  new  house  : 
His  time  divided  between  the  teaching  of  his  nephews  and  his 
own  readings  and  continued  meditations  for  his  great  English 
Poem. — Milton's  Puritan  prepossessions  and  antecedents:  His 
description  of  himself  as  "  Church-outed  by  the  Prelates  "  :  Signifi- 
cance now  of  his  speech  of  St.  Peter  in  Lycidas  denouncing  the 
corruptions  of  the  English  Church  and  prophesying  the  "two- 
handed  engine  at  the  door  " :  His  own  account  of  the  effects  upon 
him  of  the  first  proceedings  of  the  Long  Parliament :  His  dis- 
position mainly  that  of  a  passive  observer  till  he  was  roused  by 
the  movement  for  Church  Reform  :  His  acquaintanceship,  through 
his  old  preceptor,  Thomas  Young  of  Stowmarket,  with  some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Root  and  Branch  Party  in  the  English  Church 
qiiestion  :  His  resolution  to  step  out  in  their  aid. 

Pages  203-212 

III.  Root  and  Branch  Petitions  to  the  Parliament :  Bishop  Hall's  counter- 
blast for  Episcopacy  in  his  Humble  Remonstrance. — Debates  in  the 
Commons  on  the  Church  Question  :  Speeches  of  Lord  Digby,  Lord 
Falkland,  and  others,  for  a  Limited  Episcopacy  :  Root  and  Branch 
Speeches  :  Reference  of  the  Question  to  a  Committee  of  Religion. — 
Scottish  Pamphlets  in  aid  of  the  Root  and  Branch  Party  :  Appear- 
ance, in  March  1641,  of  the  English  Root  and  Branch  Pamphlet  of 
"  SMECTYMNUUS,"  consisting  of  a  Reply  to  Bishop  Hall's  Humble 
Remonstrance  by  Stephen  Marshall,  Edmund  Calamy,  Thomas 
Young,  Matthew  Newcomen,  and  William  Spurstow,  conjointly  : 
Account  of  the  Pamphlet. — Report  and  Proposals  of  the  Committee 
of  Religion  in  the  Commons  :  Introduction  of  a  Bill  for  the 
exclusion  of  Bishops  from  Parliament  and  of  the  Clergy  from 
offices  of  civil  jurisdiction  :  Delay  in  the  progress  of  this  Bill, 
and  multiplication  of  Petitions  on  the  Church  Question. — The 
Church  Question  in  the  Lords  :  Motion  of  Bishop  Williams  in  that 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

House,  and  consequent  appointment  of  a  general  Committee  of 
Religion,  with  Williams  as  Chairman :  Clerical  Conferences  round 
Williams  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber. — Bill  for  the  Exclusion  of 
Bishops  from  Parliament  carried  in  the  Commons,  1st  May  1641  : 
Opposed  in  the  Lords  by  Bishop  Hall,  Bishop  Williams,  and 
others,  and  thrown  out,  18th  June,  by  a  majority  of  sixteen. — 
Attack  in  the  Commons  on  Cathedral  Establishments :  University 
Petitions  in  their  favour,  and  Dr.  Hacket's  Defence  of  them  : 
Archbishop  Usher's  scheme  for  a  Limited  Episcopacy  in  England  : 
Resolution  of  the  Commons  against  Cathedral  Establishments: 
A  Root  and  Branch  Bill  introduced  into  the  Commons  by  Sir 
Edward  Deer  ing:  Vane,  Cromwell,  and  Haselrig  the  real  authors 
of  this  Bill :  Discussions  on  the  Bill,  and  Hyde  s  obstruction  to  it 
in  Committee. — Production  in  the  Lords,  1st  July,  of  Bishop 
Williams's  Draft  Scheme  of  Church  Reform  :  This  a  scheme  of 
Limited  Episcopacy,  with  retention  of  the  Bishops  in  Parliament: 
Small  attention  paid  to  the  scheme :  Some  effect  of  it,  however, 
upon  the  state  of  Parties  in  the  Church  Question  :  Four  Parties 
recognisable  in  and  after  July  1641,  viz.  The  High  Church  Party  and 
the  Root  and  Branch  Party  at  the  two  extremes  as  before,  but  the 
Middle  or  Broad  Church  Party  now  broken  into  a  more  conserva- 
tive section,  advocating  a  Limited  Episcopacy  with  retention 
of  Bishops  in  Parliament,  and  a  more  thoroughgoing  section, 
advocating  a  Limited  Episcopacy  after  Usher's  model. 

Pages  213-236 

IV.  Appearance,    in    May    or    June    1641,    of    Milton's    First    Anti- 

Episcopal  or  Root  and  Branch  Pamphlet,  entitled  Of  Reformation 
touch iny  Church  Disfijifiiii-  ,',i  England:  His  prior  concern  with 
the  Pamphlet  of  the  Five  Smectymnuans:  Opening  Paragraph  of  his 
own  Pamphlet :  Analysis  of  the  rest  of  the  Pamphlet,  with  quota- 
tions: Its  tremendous  i>eroration.— Milton's  Second  Anti-Episcopal 
Pamphlet,  June  or  July  1641,  entitled  Of  Prclatical  Episcopacy: 
This  a  special  reply  to  a  Tract  of  Usher's  on  behalf  of  Limited 
•  >pacy:  Account  of  Usher's  Tract  and  of  Milton's  Reply. — 
Bishop  Hall's  Defence  of  thf  Humble  Remonstrance  in  reply  to  the 
Smectymnuans  :  Rejoinder  of  the  Smectymnuans  in  their  Vindica- 
tion of  the  Answer  to  the  Humble  Remonstrance :  Discussion  in  those 
Pamphlets  of  the  subjects  of  Liturgy  and  Episcopacy.  —  Milton's 
Third  A nti- Episcopal  Pamphlet,  July  1641,  entitled  Animadversions 
on  the  Remonstrant's  Defence  against  Smectymnuus :  Invectives 
against  Bishop  Hall  in  this  Pamphlet,  and  Proofs  in  it  of  Milton's 
partnership  with  the  Smectymnuans  from  the  first. — Characteristic 
Extracts  from  Milton's  three  Pamphlets  of  1641.  Pages  237-268 

V.  Tactics  of  the  Commons  after  the  rejection  of  their  Bishops  Exclusion 

Bill  by  the  Lords  :  Their  impeachment  of  thirteen  of  the  Bishops 
individually  for  illegal  proceedings  in  the  Convocation  of  1640.— 
Si^iiin^  of  the  Treaty  with  the  Scots,  7th  August  1641,  and  sudden 
hrputure  of  the  King  for  Scotland. — Death  of  the  Earl  of  Bedford  : 
Plague  in  London  :  Reces-  •  ks  agreed  upon  by  Parliament  : 

Appointment  of  Commissioners  for  both  Houses  to  follow  his 
Maj.My  into  Scotland:  Adjournment  of  the  two  Houses,  9th 

•ember.— General  View  of  the  Political  Situation  at  the  time  of 
the.  Recess:  Motley  com  position  of  Charles's  nominal  Privy  Council 
and  Ministry:  Kin •,''••*  independent  Policy  that  of  secret  clfort-  for 
a  Counter- ({evolution  :  Lord  Dighy  taken  into  the  King's  confi- 
di-ncc,  and  promoted  to  the  Ilou-i-  of  Pe.-r*  :  Other  likely  Hp-nis  in 
Enul.-ind  for  the  King's  secret  policy:  II  mt  of  his  first 

interview  with  Clnrl.s.  Me.-tinj,'  of  another  General  Assembly 

ie  Scottish  Kirk,  with  Alexander  Henderson  again  in  the  chair  : 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAP. 

Congratulatory  Letter  to  the  Assembly  from  the  London  Puritan 
Divines,  and  Sympathetic  Reply  of  the  Assembly  :  Henderson's 
motion  for  the  preparation  of  a  Confession  of  Faith,  a  Catechism, 
a  Directory  of  Worship,  and  a  Platform  of  Church  Government,  to 
be  tendered  to  the  English  with  a  view  to  Uniformity  of  Religion 
between  the  two  nations  :  The  task  committed  to  Henderson  him- 
self.— Arrival  of  the  King  in  Edinburgh,  14th  August :  The  General 
Assembly  then  over,  but  a  Scottish  Parliament  in  Session. — 
Supremacy  of  Argyle  in  the  Scottish  government  at  that  date  : 
Character  and  Antecedents  of  Montrose :  His  restlessness  under 
the  Argyle  Supremacy :  His  manuscript  Essay  expounding  his 
Theory  of  Government :  His  purpose  the  restoration  of  the  royal 
authority,  but  not  of  Episcopacy,  in  Scotland :  His  recent  secret 
correspondence  with  the  King  to  that  end :  Discovery  of  the 
correspondence,  and  of  his  Plottings  against  the  Argyle  Govern- 
ment :  Consequent  arrest  and  imprisonment  in  Edinburgh  Castle, 
some  while  before  the  King's  arrival  in  Scotland,  of  Montrose, 
his  brother-in-law  Napier,  and  their  associates  in  what  may  be 
called  the  Merchiston  House  Compact.— Contrast  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  King's  present  visit  to  Scotland  with  those  of  his 
Coronation  Visit  in  1633  :  His  ostensible  policy  that  of  amicable 
co-operation  with  the  Scottish  Parliament  in  the  business  in  which 
he  found  it  engaged  :  That  business  mainly  the  discussion  of  two 
questions,  viz.— (1)  What  should  be  done  with  "  The  Incendiaries  " 
or  Anti-Covenanting  Delinquents  of  the  old  type,  (2)  What  should 
be  done  with  Montrose  and  his  fellow  "  Plotters  "  :  Two  months  of 
amicable  co-operation  (Aug.  14— Oct.  12),  of  the  King  with  the 
Scottish  Parliament  in  these  discussions  :  Agreement  at  length  for 
lenient  dealing  with  both  classes  of  offenders. — Sudden  commotion 
in  Edinburgh,  Oct.  13,  over  the  mysterious  affair  called  "The 
Incident,"  consisting  in  a  supposed  Plot  for  the  capture  of  Argyle, 
the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  and  the  Earl  of  Lanark,  the  armed 
occupation  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  commencement  of  a  Scottish 
counter-revolution. — King's  vehement  repudiation  of  concern  with 
any  such  plot,  gradual  subsidence  of  the  commotion,  and  hushing 
up  of  the  affair :  Resumption  of  business  by  the  Parliament : 
Liberation  of  Montrose  and  his  associates,  and  condonation  for  the 
older  Delinquents. — Triumphant  confirmation  of  the  Argyle 
supremacy  :  Appointment  of  a  new  Scottish  Privy  Council,  with 
Lord  Loudoun  as  Chancellor,  but  Argyle  the  real  head  :  Peerages 
and  other  parting  Honours  for  the  Covenanting  Chiefs,  including 
Earldoms  for  Loudoun  and  General  Leslie,  and  a  Marquisate  for 
Argyle :  Last  sitting  of  the  Parliament,  17th  November,  and 
Departure  of  the  King  from  Edinburgh.— State  of  Ireland  since 
the  execution  of  Strafford  :  Outbreak  of  the  great  Irish  Rebellion, 
23rd  October  1641  :  Massacre  of  English  and  Scottish  Protestants 
in  Ulster  and  other  parts  of  Ireland  :  Varying  estimates  of  the 
numbers  killed Pages  269-314 

VI.  Reassembling  of  the  English  Parliament,  20th  October  1641  :  Effects 
upon  the  Parliament  of  "  The  Incident"  in  Scotland  and  the  Irish 
Rebellion :  Notion  of  a  GRAND  REMONSTRANCE  :  The  document 
drafted  and  presented  to  the  Commons,  8th  November  :  Debates  on 
it  till  20th  November  :  Midnight  Scene  of  Excitement  in  the  House, 
22nd  November. — King  back  in  London,  25th  November  :  His  re- 
soluteness on  the  Church  Question  indicated  by  his  filling  up  of 
vacancies  in  the  English  Episcopate  :  Elevation  of  Bishop  Williams 
to  the  Archbishopric  of  York,  and  translation  of  Bishop  Hall  from 
Exeter  to  Norwich. — Presentation  of  the  Grand  Remonstrance  to 
the  King,  1st  December :  Quotation  of  six  of  the  more  important 


CONTENTS.  \  v 

<  MAI  . 

Paragraphs  of  the  Document.— Revival  of  popular  fury  against  the 
Bishops  :  Resentment  of  the  King's  Speech  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
14th  December:  Order  of  the  Commons  for  printing  the  Grand 
Remonstrance:  King's  Answer  to  the  document:  This  deemed 
unsatisfactory.  —  Christmas  Tumults  in  Westminster  and  street 
.skirmishes  between  " Cavaliers "  and  "Roundheads":  Archbishop 
Williams  hustled  by  the  mob:  Protest  by  Williams  and  eleven 
other  Prelates  that  their  lives  were  in  danger  and  that  all  that 
should  be  done  in  the  Lords  House  in  their  absence  should  be  null : 
The  Protest  voted  High  Treason  by  the  two  Houses,  and  Williams 
and  his  eleven  colleagues  committed  to  custody  :  Virtual  disappear- 
ance of  Bishops  at  this  point  for  twenty  years  from  the  English 
body-politic. — Falkland,  Sir  John  Colepepper,  and  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  brought  into  the  King's  Council,  January  1641-2, 
and  these,  with  Hyde  and  Lord  Digby,  now  Charles's  chief 
advisers:  The  Coup  d'etat  of  January  4th,  or  Charles's  demand  for 
the  arrest  and  impeachment  of  Lord  Kirabolton  in  the  Peers,  and 
of  Pym,  Harapden,  Denzil  Holies,  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  and  William 
Strode,  in  the  Commons,  with  his  armed  march  from  Whitehall  to 
the  Houses  of  Parliament  to  enforce  the  demand  in  person  :  Scene 
in  the  Commons  House  on  that  occasion,  with  report  of  the  King's 
behaviour  in  the  House  and  his  speeches  from  the  step  of  the 
Speaker's  chair:  His  concluding  words  "I  see  all  my  birds  are 
flown,"  and  departure  from  the  House  amid  cries  of  "Privilege," 
"Privilege." — Mustering  to  arras  in  the  City  of  London/and  Adjourn- 
ment of  the  regular  sittings  of  the  two  Houses  for  six  days  : 
Departure  of  the  King,  with  his  Queen  and  Family,  from  White- 
hall, 10th  January,  never  to  see  it  again  till  his  last  return  to  it : 
Resumption  that  day  of  the  sittings  of  Parliament  in  Westminster. 
— Revenges  upon  the  supposed  advisers  of  the  Coup  cCttat :  Pym's 
great  Sj>eech  on  "Obstruction":  More  Petitions  against  Bishops 
and  Episcopacy  :  Bill  for  the  Exclusion  of  Bishops  from  Parliament 
carried  at  last  in  the  House  of  Peers,  5th  February  1641-2  :  Com- 
munications between  the  Parliament  and  the  King  at  Hampton 
Court  and  Windsor  :  Flight  of  Lord  Digby  to  the  Continent :  Other 
Councillors  now  round  the  King :  His  resolution  to  temporise  till 
the  Queen  and  the  Princess  of  Orange  should  be  out  of  the  country  : 
King  at  Canterbury,  with  the  Queen  and  Princess,  13th  February  : 
His  assent  there  that  day  to  the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill :  Claren- 
don's Reflections  on  that  Concession  :  Embarkation  of  the  Queen 
and  Princess  at  Dover,  23rd  February,  and  return  of  the  King,  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  Duke  of  York,  from  Dover  northwards,  still 
avoiding  London :  King  at  York,  19th  March  :  Militia  Ordinance 
of  the  Parliament :  Mission  to  Charles  to  request  him  to  assent  to 
the  Ordinance  and  part  with  his  power  over  the  Militia:  His 
answer,  "No,  by  God;  not  for  an  hour"  .  .  Pages  315-355 

VII.  Milton  still  in  Aldersgate  Street:  Traces  of  him  in  the  Poll  Tax 
Returns  for  Aldersgate  Ward  in  July  1641  :  Further  traces  of  him 
in  the  Voluntary  Contribution  by  inhabitants  of  that  ward  for  the 
relief  of  the  Irish  Protestants,  January  1641-2  :  Public  Talk  about 
Milton's  first  three  Anti- Episcopal  Pamphlets  :  Indignant  reference 
to  the  first  of  these  by  Fuller  in  his  Holy  and  Profane  State.— Pub- 
lication, in  January  or  February  1641-2,  of  Milton's  Fourth  Anti- 
Kiiiscopal  Pamphlet,  entitled  The  Reason  of  Church  Government : \ 
This  Pamphlet  avowedly  an  answer  to  a  Collection  of  Tracts  iu  \ 
defence  of  Episcopacy  recently  published  by  the  Oxford  University 
Press :  Account  of  that  Collection  :  Analysis  of  Milton's  Pamphlet 
in  reply:  Quotation  of  Characteristic  Passages:  Proofs  in  the 
Pamphlet  that  Milton,  at  this  date,  was  mainly  a  Presbyterian  in 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

CHAP. 

his  views  of  Church  Government :  Special  examination  of  the  Pre- 
face to  Book  II.  of  the  Pamphlet :  Its  Autobiographical  interest 
and  purport. — Bishop  Hall's  Short  Answer  to  the  Tedious  Vindica- 
tion of  Smectymnuus  ( July  or  August  1641),  and  his  Modest  Confuta- 
tion of  a  Slanderous  and  Scurrilous  Libel  entitled  Animadversions 
upon  the  Remonstrant 's  Defence  against  Smectymnuus  (early  in  1642)  : 
This  last  a  Reply  by  Hall,  with  the  assistance  of  his  son,  to  Milton's 
Pamphlet  of  the  preceding  July  in  aid  of  the  Smectyrnnuans : 
Specimens  of  its  scurrilities  against  Milton  personally,  and  its 
criticisms  of  his  literary  style. — Publication,  in  March  or  April 
1642,  of  the  Fifth  and  Last  of  Milton's  Anti-Episcopal  Pamphlets, 
being  his  rejoinder  to  Hall  in  the  form  of  An  Apology  against  a 
{  Pamphlet  called  A  Modest  Confutation,  etc.  :  Milton's  Self-defences 
here  against  Hall's  aspei-sions  on  his  character,  and  his  ferocious 
retorts  on  Hall  himself:  Further  expressions  in  the  Pamphlet  of 
Milton's  opinions  on  the  Church  question  .  Pages  356-409 

VIII.  Rupture  between  the  King  and  the  Parliament  virtually  complete  in 
March  1642  :  Continued  negotiations  nevertheless  between  the  King 
at  York  and  the  Parliament  at  Westminster  :  King's  appointment 
of  new  Bishops  to  vacant  sees  :  Counter-action  of  Parliament  in  a 
Bill  for  restraining  the  creation  of  new  Peers  :  Other  instances  of 
this  policy  of  move  and  counter-move  :  Release,  in  May  1642,  of 
the  twelve  imprisoned  Prelates  :  Flight  of  Lord  Keeper  Littleton  to 
York,  followed  by  Hyde,  Lord  Falkland,  and  Colepepper  :  Statistics 
showing  the  diminished  attendance  in  the  two  Houses  from  April 
to  June. — Anxiety  on  both  sides  as  to  the  probable  behaviour  of 
Scotland  in  the  coming  crisis :  Sympathies  of  the  Marquis  of  Argyle, 
Johnstone  of  Warriston,  and  other  chiefs  of  the  Scottish  Privy 
Council,  with  the  English  Parliament :  Efforts  of  the  King  to 
counteract  these  by  sending  the  Duke  of  Hamilton  into  Scotland  : 
Session  in  Edinburgh,  from  27th  July  to  6th  August,  of  another 
General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  :  Intimation  to  this  Assembly  by 
Alexander  Henderson  that  he  had  found  it  inexpedient  to  proceed 
in  the  business,  deputed  to  him  by  the  last  Assembly,  of  preparing 
such  standards  of  doctrine  and  church  discipline  as  might  be 
submitted  to  the  English  with  a  view  to  uniformity  of  Religion 
between  the  two  nations  :  Unanimous  agreement,  however,  that 
Prelacy  ought  to  be  abolished  in  England  and  some  form  of 
Presbytery  substituted  :  Missives  to  that  effect  from  the  Assembly 
both  to  the  King  and  to  the  Parliament. — Landing  of  the  Queen 
on  the  North-English  coast  with  arms  and  stores  from  Holland  : 
Arming  and  money -raising  on  both  sides:  King's  Commissions 
of  Array  versus  the  operations  of  Parliament  under  their  Militia 
Ordinance  :  Cromwell  and  his  troop  of  horse  in  Cambridgeshire  : 
Appointment  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  be  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Parliamentarian  forces,  with  the  Earl  of  Bedford  for  his  Master  of 
Horse :  Selection  of  the  Earl  of  Lindsey  to  be  the  Royalist 
Commander-in-chief,  with  the  King's  nephew,  Prince  Rupert,  for 
his  second  :  Proclamation  of  the  King,  9th  August,  for  "suppress- 
ing the  present  Rebellion  under  the  Command  of  Robert,  Earl  of 
Essex  "  :  Answer  of  defiance  by  the  Parliament :  Raising  of  the 
King's  Standard  at  Nottingham,  22nd  August,  and  Commencement 
of  the  Civil  War Pages  410-424 


CONTEN 

BOOK  III. 

AUGUST  1642-JULY  1648. 

HISTORY: — COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR:  THE  LONG  PARLIA- 
MENT CONTIMKD:   MEETING  OF  THB  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY. 

BIOG K. U'lIY :— MILTON  STILL  IN  ALDEUSOATE  STREET:  His  MARRIAGE. 

<  'HAP. 

I.  Division  of  the  Population  of  England  into  the  two  opposed  Parties 
of  the  ROYALISTS  or  CAVALIERS  and  the  PARLIAMENTARIANS  or 
ROUNDHEADS,  and  Statistics  of  the  two  Parties  at  the  outset  of  the 
War.— (I.)  Proportions  of  the  two  Parties  among  the  Peers,  with 
lists  of  the  Royalist  Peers,  the  Parliamentarian  Peers,  and  the  Non- 
Effective  Peers;  (II.)  Computation  of  the  proportions  in  the 
Commons  House  ;  (III.)  Computation  for  the  Country  at  large  and 
for  the  English  Shires  individually. — Composition  of  the  Royalist 
Army  at  the  outset,  with  Lists  of  the  Officers  ;  Comitosition  of  the 
Parliamentarian  Army,  with  similar  Lists:  Small  importance 
eventually  of  the  ingredient  of  professional  or  previously  trained 
military  experience  in  either  Army  :  Case  of  Oliver  Cromwell :  His 
principle  for  effective  recruiting.— First  movements  of  the  King's 
Army  :  Fight  of  Powick  Bridge  (22nd  September  1642) :  Battle  of 
Kdgehill  (23rd  October) :  Indecisive  issue  of  the  Battle,  but  the 
Earl  of  Lindsey  and  the  Royal  standard-bearer  among  the  slain  on 
the  King's  side :  Advance  of  the  King  towards  London,  and  his 
entry  into  Brentford  :  Panic  among  the  Londoners  in  expectation 
of  an  immediate  assault  on  the  City  :  March  out  of  the  London 
Trained  Bands  and  Volunteers,  under  Skippon,  Saturday  12th 
November,  to  aid  Essex  in  opposing  the  king's  approach  :  The 
Rendezvous  at  Turnham  Green,  Sunday  13th  November :  Battle 
avoided,  and  London  relieved,  by  the  retirement  of  the  King:  Oxford 
to  be  his  headquarters  through  the  rest  of  the  War. — Map-sketch 
of  the  events  of  the  War  throughout  England,  district  by  district, 
to  as  far  as  Midsummer  1643: — No  conclusive  result  as  yet,  but 
the  balance  of  success  rather  with  the  King :  Desertions  to  his  side : 
Discovery  of  a  Plot  against  the  Parliament :  Punishment  of  the 
poet  Waller  for  his  share  in  the  Plot:  Complaints  among  the 
Parliamentarians  against  Essex  for  his  heavy  strategy,  and  outcries 
for  a  change  in  the  commandership-in-chief :  Sir  William  Waller 
the  popular  favourite  for  that  post,  on  account  of  his  conspicuous 
successes  hitherto  :  Hampden  also,  spoken  of:  Death  of  Hampden. 

Pages  425-471 

IF.  Question  whether  Milton  served  at  any  time  in  the  Parliamentarian 
Army  :  Proofs  of  the  extent  and  accuracy  of  his  military  knowledge 
and  of  his  practical  acquaintance  with  military  drill :  His  own  dis- 
tinct intimation,  nevertheless,  in  1654,  that  he  had  not  served  in 
the  Parliamentarian  musters  :  Question  not  entirely  set  at  rest  by 
that  statement :  Recollection  by  Edward  Phillips  of  a  proposal  to 
bring  his  uncle  into  the  Army  as  Adjutant^ icn*  ral  to  Sir  William 
\V  iller  :  This  tradition  far  less  credible  than  that  Milton  should 
have  been  found  serving  at  first  in  one  of  the  regiments  of  the  Lon- 
don Trained  Bands:  A  "John  Milton"  found  as  one  of  the  original 
officers  of  Alderman  Pennington's  Regiment  of  those  Trained  Bands, 
but  this  not  the  poet :  Proof  positive,  in  Milton's  sonnet  "  Captain  or 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

CHAP. 

Colonel"  that  he  was  not  in  the  ranks  in  the  famous  March  to 
Turn  ham  Green  on  the  12th  of  November  1642  :  Comments  on  the 
Sonnet  in  this  connexion. — Milton's  occupations  in  Aldersgate  Street 
through  the  winter  of  1642  and  the  spring  of  1643  :  Traces  of  his 
brother,  Christopher  Milton,  as  then  residing  at  Reading,  and  of  his 
father  as  then  residing  with  Christopher :  Consequent  interest  of 
Milton  in  the  Siege  of  Reading  by  the  Parliamentarian  Army  in 
April  1643  :  Surrender  of  the  Town  to  Essex. — Milton's  journey 
into  the  country  in  May  1643,  "nobody  about  here  certainly 
knowing  the  reason  "  :  Account  of  the  Family  of  the  Powells  of 
Forest  Hill,  near  Oxford  :  Previous  relations  between  these  Powells 
and  the  Miltons  :  Circumstances  of  Squire  Powell  of  Forest  Hill  in 
1643  :  List  and  ages  of  his  eleven  children  from  the  Forest  Hill 
Baptism  Registers  :  Description  of  the  Forest  Hill  mansion-house  : 
Marriage  of  Milton  with  Mary  Powell,  cetat.  18,  the  eldest  daughter 
of  the  family  :  Surprise  that  he  should  have  chosen  his  wife  from  a 
Royalist  family,  and  fetched  her  from  the  very  headquarters  of 
Royalism  :  Return  of  Milton  to  Aldersgate  Street  in  June  1643, 
bringing  his  girl-wife  with  him,  and  some  of  her  sisters  and  brides- 
maids :  Flutter  in  the  Aldersgate  Street  house  for  some  days,  with 
festivities  in  celebration  of  the  nuptials :  Departure  of  the  sisters 
and  bridesmaids,  leaving  Milton  and  his  young  wife  to  each  other's 
society  :  Discontentment  of  the  young  wife  after  about  a  month's 
experiment  of  her  new  life,  and  contrival  of  a  request  from  Forest 
Hill  to  have  her  home  again  for  a  visit  of  a  few  weeks  :  Consent  of 
Milton,  on  the  understanding  that  she  was  to  return  about 
Michaelmas. — Milton  thus  again  a  bachelor  in  July  1643  :  Increase 
of  the  number  of  his  day-pupils  at  this  time,  and  arrival  of  his 
father  from  Reading  to  reside  with  him  thenceforward. 

Pages  472-508 

III.  Scheme  of  the  Long  Parliament  for  an  Assembly  of  Divines  to  co- 
operate with  Parliament  in  the  work  of  Church  Reform  :  Bill  of 
1st  June  1642  for  the  purpose  :  This  and  two  subsequent  Bills  for 
the  same  purpose  stopped  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War : 
Ordinance  of  the  two  Houses,  12th  June  1643,  convoking  the 
Westminster  Assembly  and  regulating  its  procedure :  Royal  Pro- 
clamation from  Oxford  forbidding  the  Assembly  :  Meeting  of  the 
Assembly,  nevertheless,  1st  July  1643  :  Alphabetical  List,  with 
Biographical  Notices,  of  all  the  appointed  Members  of  the  Assembly : 
View  of  the  business  lying  before  the  Assembly,  and  prescribed  for 
it  by  Parliamentary  Ordinance  :  A  Revision  of  the  Creed  and  Liturgy 
of  the  Church  of  England  to  be  part  of  the  business  :  A  more 
immediate  business,  however,  to  be  the  recommendation  to  Parlia- 
ment of  the  Form  of  Church  Government  to  be  adopted  in  the  new 
National  Church :  Pre-assumption  that  the  Episcopal  Form  of 
Government  was  to  be  abolished,  and  some  other  form  substituted  : 
Apparent  inconsistency  of  this  with  the  fact  that  Archbishop  Usher, 
two  English  Bishops,  and  some  other  Divines  of  known  Episcopalian 
sentiments,  were  among  the  originally-appointed  members :  This 
difficulty  removed  by  the  non-appearance  of  most  of  these  Divines, 
and  the  speedy  dropping-off  of  the  one  or  two  who  did  appear  : 
Virtual  unanimity  of  the  remanent  body  of  the  Divines  in  matters 
of  Doctrine  :  The  Calvinistic  Theology  substantially  that  professed 
by  all,  though  with  the  Agreement  that  the  appeal  in  matters  of 
Faith  should  always  be  to  the  letter  of  the  Bible. 

Pages  509-527 


CONTI  xix 


BOOK  IV. 

ENGLISH  PRESBYTERIAN  ISM  AND  ENGLISH  INDEPENDENCY:  THEIR  HISTORY 

TO  1643. 

PURITANS  A  general  name  for  English  Nonconformists  from  1564. — Fuller's 
account  of  the  first  appearance  of  English  Nonconformists  advocating 
the  Genevan  or  Presbyterian  form  of  Church  Discipline :  Presbyterian 
movement  among  the  English  Clergy  from  1572  onwards :  Thomas 
Cartwright  the  leader  of  the  movement:  Estimate  of  the  number  of 
beneficed  English  Clergymen  of  Presbyterian  principles  in  1590 : 
Suppression  of  the  Presbyterian  movement  by  Archbishop  Whitgift : 
The  Presbyterian  leaven  nevertheless  at  work  in  England  through  the 
reign  of  James,  and  transmitted  into  that  of  Charles  :  Not  extinct  even 
under  Laud's  supremacy  :  Sudden  effect  upon  England  of  the  success  of 
the  Scots  in  1638  in  throwing  off  the  Episcopacy  established  among 
them  by  King  James  and  reverting  to  their  native  Presbyterianism : 
Passion  among  the  English  Puritans  from  that  date  for  a  reform  of  the 
Church  of  England  on  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  model :  Evidences  of 
this  between  1638  and  1643  :  Estimate  that  at  the  time  of  the  meeting 
of  the  Westminster  Assembly  all  the  120  ministers  of  the  City  of 
London,  except  three,  were  of  Presbyterian  opinions. — Tradition  in 
England  all  the  while  of  a  species  of  Puritanism  or  Anti- Prelacy  more 
extreme  than  Presbyterianism  :  This  known  afterwards  as  Congrega- 
tionalism or  Independency :  Explanation  of  the  theoretical  differences 
between  Independency  and  Presbyterianism  :  Chief  difference  the  as- 
sertion on  the  part  of  Independency  that  each  individual  congregation, 
or  voluntary  concourse  of  Christians,  ought  to  possess  self-regulating 
powers,  and  that  the  assumed  authority  of  synods  over  individual 
congregations  is  no  less  a  usurpation  than  Prelacy  or  Papacy  :  Possible 
derivation  of  the  germs  of  this  theory  from  old  English  Wycliffism,  or 
from  the  recent  ferment  in  Germany  of  Protestant  speculations  going 
beyond  Luther's :  First  crude  form  of  English  Independency,  however, 
that  named  BROWNISH  :  Account  of  Robert  Brown  and  his  propagandist 
activity  between  1580  and  1590 :  His  collapse  into  privacy  before  the 
end  of  his  life :  Later  and  more  resolute  Brownists  or  Separatists : 
Detection  of  a  Brownist  conventicle  in  Islington  in  1592,  ana  arrest  of 
fifty-six  of  the  culprits:  Six  of  the  chief  Brownists  brought  to  the 
scaffold,  one  of  them  Henry  Barrowe,  after  whom  the  Brownists  were 
sometimes  called  Barrowists  :  Bacon's  description  of  the  Brownists  in 
1592  as  "  a  very  small  number  of  very  silly  and  base  people,"  and  his 
congratulations  on  the  extinction  of  the  Sect.— Bacon  in  error  here  : 
Migration,  between  1593  and  1608,  of  considerable  numbers  of  the  Sect 
to  the  Dutch  United  Provinces:  Notices  of  Francis  Johnson,  Henry 
Ainsworth,  John  Smyth,  Henry  Jacob,  Richard  Clifton,  and  John 
Robinson,  as  the  chief  preachers  to  these  English  Brownist  exiles  in 
Holland  :  The  six  together  in  Amsterdam  for  a  while,  and  dissensions 
among  them  there  :  These  dissensions  partly  theological,  in  consequence 
of  the  adoption  by  some  of  them  of  the  tenets  of  the  Dutch  Arminians, 
but  chiefly  on  the  question  of  the  proper  relations  of  Nonconformists  to 
the  Church  of  England  :  Removal  of  Smyth  and  Robinson  to  Leyden  : 


XX  CONTENTS. 

These  two  the  chief  representatives  of  the  opposed  sides  of  the  contro- 
versy:  Smyth  the  most  Arminian  in  his  theology,  and  the  most 
vehement  Separatist  and  Anabaptist,  renouncing  utterly  all  communion 
with  the  Church  of  England  :  His  death  in  1610,  leaving  his  Ley  den 
pastorship  to  a  Thomas  Helwisse  :  Special  importance  of  Robinson  in 
the  history  of  English  Independency :  Breadth  and  Moderation  of  his 
views:  His  repudiation  of  the  nickname  "Brownist,"  and  of  the 
necessity  of  absolute  Separation  from  the  Church  of  England  :  His 
Independency  definable  as  Semi- Separatism  or  Liberal  Congregationalism: 
His  influence  among  the  Exiles  and  among  the  Dutch  themselves. — 
Relics  of  Brownism  still  lurking  in  England,  and  Intercommunication 
between  these  and  the  Anglo-Dutch  Congregationalists  :  Bishop  Hall's 
denunciation  in  1610  of  the  Brownist  Sectaries,  and  of  Smyth  and 
Robinson  as  their  leaders  :  Abatement  of  the  persecution  of  the  English 
Brownists  in  1611,  when  the  severe  Bancroft  was  succeeded  in  the 
Primacy  by  the  milder  Abbot :  Return  in  that  year  of  Thomas  Helwisse 
from  Holland,  and  formation  by  him  of  the  first  Independent  Congrega- 
tion in  London  :  This  an  obscure  society  of  those  known  afterwards  as 
General  Baptists  or  Arminian  Baptists  :  Return  from  Holland  in  1616  of 
Henry  Jacob,  and  foundation  by  him  of  a  second  Congregational  church 
in  London  :  This  a  church  on  Robinson's  principles  of  Moderate  and 
Calvinistic  Independency  :  Jacob  succeeded  in  the  pastorship  of  this 
church  in  1624  by  a  John  Lathorp  :  Difficulties  of  this  church  and 
shiftings  of  its  meeting -place  after  Laud's  promotion  in  1628  to 
the  Bishopric  of  London :  Break  -  up  of  Lathorp's  conventicle  in 
Blackfriars  in  1632,  and  apprehension  of  Lathorp  and  forty- two 
of  his  congregation :  Independency  then  apparently  stamped  out 
in  England,  but  still  with  a  refuge  in  Holland. — A  wider  refuge 
now,  however,  in  America :  Puritans  among  the  earliest  colonists 
of  Virginia  :  Acquisition  about  1617  of  the  name  of  NEW  ENGLAND  by 
what  had  been  known  till  then  as  North  Virginia :  Project  among  the 
English  Independents  in  Holland  of  an  emigration  to  New  England  : 
Departure  in  1620  of  the  first  Puritan  Colony  for  New  England,  to 
form  there  the  settlement  of  New  Plymouth  :  This  Colony  organised 
by  Robinson,  and  consisting  of  English  Independents,  partly  from 
Holland  and  partly  from  England  itself,  sent  across  the  Atlantic  with 
his  blessing  :  Landing  of  the  little  colony,  numbering  102  persons  in 
all,  on  the  American  coast  in  November  1620  :  Continued  emigration 
of  Puritans  to  New  England,  in  successive  detachments,  through  the 
next  twenty  years :  The  total  Puritan  population  of  New  England 
estimated  at  21,000  or  22,000  souls  in  1640  :  View  at  that  date  of  the 
four  main  colonies  of  New  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and 
New  Haven,  with  the  outlying  Plantations  of  Providence  and  Rhode 
Island,  and  some  straggling  townships  :  The  Church  Organisation  of 
New  England  wholly  an  organisation  on  the  principles  of  Independency 
or  Congregationalism,  but  with  variations  between  strict  Independency 
and  something  like  semi-Presbyterianism  :  Church  officers  and  Church 
forms  :  As  many  as  eighty  pastors  of  congregations  in  New  England  in 
1640,  most  of  whom  had  been  ministers  in  the  Church  of  England  : 
Biographical  sketches  of  seventeen  of  the  most  notable  of  these  :  Dis- 
sensions among  the  New  England  Congregationalists  :  These  chiefly  on 
the  question  of  the  powers  of  the  State  or  Civil  Magistracy  in  matters 
of  Religion  :  Recorded  opinions  of  the  Early  English  Brownists  on  this 
subject :  Barrowe  and  others  of  them  unanimous  in  asserting  the  right 
of  the  Civil  Magistrate  to  compel  people  to  Church  attendance,  super- 
intend ministers,  and  maintain  the  true  Religion :  Johnson  of  the 
same  opinion  :  Also  Robinson,  though  in  more  moderate  fashion  :  This 
therefore  an  inherent  tenet  of  New  England  Congregationalism  from  the 
first,  and  the  Church  of  New  England  in  fact,  and  to  this  extent,  a 
State  Church  :  Church  orthodoxy  a  condition  of  the  franchise  in  all 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

the  Colonies  :  Hence  the  phenomenon  of  prosecution  and  persecution  of 
Heresy  even  in  infant  New  England  :  Roger  Williams  and  his  Heresy 
of  Individualism,  Liberty  of  Conscience,  or  Absolute  Voluntaryism 
in  Religion  :  His  banishment  from  Massachusetts  on  that  account  in 
1635,  and  migration  to  the  Providence  and  Rhode  Island  Plantations  ; 
Hanserd  Knoflys  and  other  New  England  Baptists  :  Mrs.  Anne  Hut.  Inn - 
son,  and  her  Antinotnian  heresy :  Condemnation  of  that  and  other 
heresies  by  a  Massachusetts  Synod  in  1637,  and  migration  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  and  her  remaining  adherents  to  the  Rhode  Island  Plantation  : 
Scheme  of  Roger  Williams  and  others  in  1640  for  the  union  of  the 
Providence  and  Rhode  Island  settlements  into  an  independent  Colony 
on  democratic  principles:  Roger  Williams  then  the  most  forward 
speculative  spirit,  and  }>ei  haps  the  most  interesting  man,  in  all  America, — 
Holland  still  a  receptacle  for  exiled  English  Independents  :  John  Caune 
and  his  Amsterdam  congregation :  Mr.  Thomas  Goodwin  and  Mr. 
Philip  Nye,  co-pastors  of  an  English  Congregation  in  Arnheim  :  Dr. 
William  Ames  in  Rotterdam,  and  succeeded  there,  between  1637  and 
1639,  by  Mr.  Jeremiah  Burroughs,  Mr.  William  Bridge,  and  Mr.  Sidrarh 
Simpson. — Remnants  of  Separatism  and  Independency  within  England 
itself  through  Laud's  Primacy :  Brownists  and  Baptists  in  Wales 
between  1634  and  1640 :  Helwisse's  London  congregation  of  Arminian 
Baptists  seemingly  then  defunct,  but  Lathorp's  London  congregation 
of  Robinsonian  Independents  still  maintaining  a  precarious  existence 
under  a  Mr.  Henry  Jessey :  Popularity  in  London  in  1640  of  the 
Church  of  England  clergyman  Mr.  John  Goodwin,  Vicar  of  St.  Stephen's, 
Coleman  Street :  His  rationalistic  theology  and  affinities  with  Inde- 
pendency. —  Increased  Liberty  for  Nonconformity  of  all  kinds  in 
England  after  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament  in  November  1640 : 
One  consequence  the  return  of  Messrs.  Thomas  Goodwin,  Nye,  Bridge, 
Burroughs,  and  Simpson  from  Holland,  to  accept  parochial  charges 
or  lecture.ships  in  England :  Another  consequence  the  stoppage  of  the 
Emigration  to  America,  and  the  beginning  of  a  return  wave  from  New 
England  to  the  mother-country  :  Return  of  Hugh  Peters  and  of  Hanserd 
Knollys :  Accession  of  Prynne  and  Bastwick,  after  their  release  from 
prison,  to  the  ranks  of  the  ardent  Presbyterians,  but  of  Henry  Burton 
and  John  Lilburne,  on  the  other  hand,  alter  their  release,  to  the  ranks 
of  the  extreme  Independents:  Profession  of  Richard  Baxter  in  1641  of 
his  ignorance  till  then  of  the  difference  between  Presbyterianism  and 
Indejiendency :  Change  in  this  respect  from  1641  onwards :  Burton's 
manifesto  for  Independency  in  his  Protestation  Protested:  Pamphlets 
in  answer  to  Burton :  Thomas  Edwards,  and  his  Reasons  against 
Independency :  Katherine  Chidley's  Reply  to  Edwards :  The  name 
I\M  I'KNDKNCY  familiar  in  England  in  1642,  though  with  the  use 
of  the  name  THE  NE\\  D  WAY  as  an  alternative:  Mr.  Cotton's 

Exposition  of  this  "New  England  Way"  sent  over  from  America: 
Confederation  of  the  Four  New  England  Colonies  in  1643  into  a  united 
body-politic :  Arrival  in  London  of  accredited  agents  for  the  new 
Confederacy :  Arrival  about  the  same  time  of  Roger  Williams  as  agent 
for  the  outlying  New  England  Settlements  :  Special  importance  of  the 
presence  of  Roger  Williams  in  London  just  after  the  meeting  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  in  July  1643. — Prospects  of  the  Question  of 
Church  Government  in  the  Westminster  Assembly :  The  abolition  of 
Prelacy  a  foregone  conclusion,  and  the  struggle  narrowed  accordingly 
into  a  debate  between  Presbyterian  ism  or  "The  Scottish  Way"  and 
Independency  or  "The  New  England  Way":  Presbyterianism  over- 
whelmingly in  the  ascendant  in  the  Assembly:  Names  of  the  chief 
Presbyterian  divines  there  :  Failure  of  a  prior  attempt  of  Oliver  Cromwell 
and  others  to  secure  the  inclusion  in  the  Assembly  of  some  divines 
from  New  England  :  The  effective  representation  of  Independency  in 
the  Assembly  thus  left  wholly  to  the  five  ministers  recently  returned 


XX11  CONTENTS. 

from  Holland :  Presence  among  the  Presbyterians  of  the  Assembly  of 
a  few  ' '  Erastians, "  not  holding  Presbytery  or  any  other  form  of  Church 
government  to  be  jure  divino,  but  regarding  the  choice  of  any  particular 
form  in  any  country  as  an  affair  for  the  State-authorities :  Selden  one 
of  these  :  Peculiar  position  of  this  great  scholar  in  the  Assembly. 

Pages  529-608 


BOOK  I. 

APRIL  1638— NOVEMBER  1640. 


HISTORY:— THE  SCOTTISH  PRESBYTERIAN  REVOLT,  AND  ITS 
EFFECTS  ON  ENGLAND. 

BIOGRAPHY :— MILTON  BACK  IN  ENGLAND  :   His  EPITAPHIUM 
DA.MONIS,  AND  LITERARY  PROJECTS. 


VOL.  II 


THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  MILTON, 


WITH    THE 


HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THK   SCOTTISH  COVENANTERS — THE  MARQUIS  OP  HAMILTON'S  MISSION— 

THE  GLASGOW  ASSEMBLY  OP  1638 THE  FIRST  DELLUM  EPISCOPALE, 

OR  "  BISHOPS'  WAR  "  WITH  THE  SCOTS. 

MILTON'S  return  to  England,  after  his  fifteen  months,  more  or 
less,  of  Continental  travel,  took  place,  as  he  himself  tells  us, 
"  almost  exactly  at  that  time  when  Charles,  the  Peace  with 
"  the  Scots  having  been  broken,  was  commencing  with  them 
"  the  Second  Bishops'  War,  as  they  call  it :  in  which  when  the 
"  Royal  forces  had  been  routed  in  the  first  conflict,  and  the 

King  saw  all  the  English  likewise,  and  that  deservedly, 
"  most  ill-disposed  towards  him,  he,  on  the  compulsion  of 
"  misfortune,  and  not  spontaneously,  not  very  long  afterwards 
"  called  a  Parliament."  l  The  date,  more  precisely,  was  July 
or  August  10. ".li. 

Before  resuming  our  narrative  at  this  date,  it  is  necessary, 
for  the  general  purposes  of  our  History,  that  we  should  take 

rospect  of  the  course  of  IJritish  events  during  that  / 

Bislwps*   War,  or  first  war  between  the  Scots  and  Charles 

concerning  Bishops,  to  which  Milton's  words  point  back  as 

having  been  begun  and  concluded  during  his  absence  abroad. 

D  vi.  •>•'. 


4  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

For  the  general  purposes  of  our  History,  I  say,  such  a  retro- 
spect is  necessary.  As  it  was  in  Scotland  that  the  policy  of 
despotism  which  Charles  had  been  pursuing  in  all  the  three 
kingdoms  first  sustained  any  efficient  check,  so,  in  the  general 
revolution  of  the  three  kingdoms  which  was  approaching, 
much  was  to  depend  on  the  fact  that  the  initiative  of  revolt 
had  come  from  Scotland.  Much  was  to  depend  on  the  fact 
that  it  was  on  the  impulse  of  a  movement  completed  by  the 
northern  part  of  the  island  for  itself,  and  then  let  loose  south- 
wards, that  the  great  English  people,  or  the  Puritans  among 
them,  began,  and  for  some  time  continued,  the  larger  move- 
ment of  which  England  was  the  theatre.  I  do  not  consider 
that  this  portion  of  Scottish  History  has  been  adequately 
represented  in  its  English  connexions. 


THE  SCOTTISH  COVENANTERS. 

By  the  end  of  April  1638  all  Scotland,  with  some  fast- 
waning  exceptions,  was  pledged  to  the  Covenant.  The  ex- 
ceptions may  be  enumerated.  First,  there  were  the  Lords  of 
the  Privy  Council  and  other  officials,  whose  position  obliged 
them  to  hold  out  for  the  King's  measures  as  long  as  they 
could ;  next,  there  were  the  actual  adherents  of  Episcopacy, 
of  whom,  in  addition  to  the  Bishops  themselves,  and  several 
powerful  Lowland  houses,  there  was  a  sprinkling  in  some  of 
the  chief  towns,  and  a  mass  in  the  town  and  shire  of  Aberdeen  ; 
next,  there  were  some  of  the  Highland  clans  of  the  Aberdeen- 
shire  borders,  and  the  remoter  north,  not  much  exercised  in 
theological  controversy,  but  ready  to  go  with  their  chiefs;  and, 
lastly,  there  were  the  Scottish  Papists,  to  the  number  of  about 
six  hundred  persons  in  all,  lodged  also  principally  in  Aber- 
deenshire  and  the  adjacent  Highlands,  under  the  protection 
of  the  Marquis  of  Huntley.1  With  the  fullest  allowance, 
however,  for  these  outstanding  elements,  there  can  be  no 

1  For  a  more   detailed  enumeration  James  Gordon,  Parson  of  Rothiemay  " 

of  the  elements  in  Scottish  society  then  (Spalding  Club),  vol.  I.  61,  62.    Gordon 

opposed  to  the  Covenant,  see  "Hist,  of  was  an  Anti-covenanter,  and  writes  in 

Scots    A/airs  from   1637   to   1641,    by  that  interest. 


1638-39.]  I  !!K  SCOTTISH  COVENANTERS.  5 

doubt  that  the  Scots,  as  a  nation,  had  not  only  accepted  the 
Covenant,  luit  accepted  it  with  tin'  fervour  of  a  simultam -MIS 
outburst.  For  many  years  they  had  seen  measures  of  eccle- 
sia-tical  polity  which  they  disliked  thrust  upon  them,  through 
the  medium  of  their  own  Parliaments,  by  a  King  whom  they 
had  uriveii  to  their  English  neighbours,  and  who,  as  sovereign 
then  of  a  larger  nation,  was  able  to  act  upon  the  smaller  with 
greater  force  than  when  he  had  lived  within  it.  More  recently, 
under  Charles,  a  persevering  English  Archbishop  had  further 
olfended  them,  hy  pressing  upon  them  a  set  of  "  innovations," 
the  effect  of  which  would  have  been  to  make  Scotland  the 
experimental  nursery-ground  for  an  Episcopacy  more  extreme 
than  was  established  in  England  itself.  And  now,  in  final 
protest  against  such  violence  and  wrong,  virtually  the  entire 
nation  had  bound  itself,  by  a  solemn  oath  before  God  and  the 
whole  world,  to  renew  the  struggle  against  Popery  begun  hy 
their  fun-fathers,  and  to  resist  conjointly  to  the  death  the  said 
"  late  innovations,"  while  preserving  their  allegiance  to  the 
Kinij  in  whose  name  they  \\eie  enforced.  So,  at  last,  matters 
were  now  understood  at  the  English  Court  itself.  During 
the  months  of  March  and  April,  posts  and  messengers  from 
Scotland  had  been  arriving  there  in  rapid  succession.  There 
had  been  messengers  from  the  Scottish  Privy  Council,  followed 
by  some  of  the  chief  Councillors  themselves ;  there  had  been 
messengers  from  the  Scottish  Bishops,  followed  by  some  of 
the  Bishops  themselves;  there  had  been  private  letters  to 
Laud :  and  there  had  been  letters  from  the  Covenanting 
Chiefs  to  their  countrymen  and  acquaintances  at  Court, 
begging  them  to  support  a  new  "Supplication"  to  the  King 
which  had  been  sent  up  by  the  Covenanters  as  a  body. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  surprise  in  Laud's  mind,  and  in 
that  of  the.  Kinur,  as  to  the  fad.  of  the  commotion,  they  could 
be  under  no  mistake  now  as  to  its  extent.  "  Whae's  fule, 
noo  ?  "  asked  Archie  Armstrong,  the  Kind's  Fool,  of  Laud,  as 
as  going  to  the  Council-meeting  at  Whitehall  that  had 
hern  summoned  on  the  first  news  of  the  Covenant:  and  the 
•jihr  su  nettled  hi  '  i  hat  he  had  Archie  brought  before 

the  Cuiim-il    there  and  then,  and  sentenced  to   lose  his  place 


6  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

and  his  Fool's  coat.1  In  short,  in  April  1638,  when  Milton 
departed  on  his  foreign  tour,  he  left  his  countrymen  intent, 
with  various  feelings,  on  the  "  Scottish  business,"  as  on  some- 
thing that  was  likely  to  task  the  statesmanship  of  the  ruling 
powers  for  many  months  to  come. 

It  was  difficult  for  Charles  to  know  how  to  act.  The 
quarrel  was  one  between  himself  and  his  Scottish  subjects, 
with  which  England  was  not  constitutionally  concerned. 
Hitherto,  while  seeking  to  rule  Scotland,  as  well  as  England, 
in  a  despotic  manner,  and  while  delegating  to  the  English 
Archbishop  by  his  side  the  consideration  of  Scottish  eccle- 
siastical affairs,  he  had,  like  his  father  before  him,  been 
studious  to  maintain  the  forms  of  distinction  between  the 
two  Crowns,  and  had  always  withheld  the  business  of  his 
Scottish  realm  from  the  ordinary  cognisance  of  his  English 
Council.  To  the  thoroughgoing  Wentworth,  watching  from 
Dublin  the  progress  of  the  Scottish  confusion,  this  very  fact 
had  seemed  the  real  cause  why  it  had  gone  so  far.  Not  long 
afterwards,  when  he  sent  over  to  his  English  correspondents 
the  results  of  his  private  ruminations  on  the  subject,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  hint  that  the  confusion  might  be  worth  its 
cost,  if  only  it  disposed  his  Majesty  to  adhere  less  firmly  to 
"  that  unhappy  principle  of  state  practised  as  well  by  his 
blessed  father,"  and  led  him  nearer  to  the  arrangement  which 
would  ultimately  be  found  necessary  for  the  efficient  govern- 
ment of  the  whole  island.  That  arrangement,  as  Wentworth 
thought,  required  the  concentration  of  the  legislative  for  the 
whole  under  his  Majesty's  palace-roof,  and  the  breaking-up 
of  the  separate  apparatus  of  nationality  which  a  beggarly 
Caledonian  tradition  had  preserved  so  long  in  Edinburgh.2 
So  theorized  Wentworth ;  but  meanwhile  the  difficulty  had 
to  be  met  in  its  existing  shape.  The  Scottish  revolt,  being 

1  Record  of  Council,  of  date"  March  had  grown  rich  in  his  office  ;  and,  after 

11,  1637-8,  in  Rushworth,  II.  470,  471  ;  his  dismissal,  he  still  loafed  about  West- 

and  a  letter  of  Garrard's  to  Wentworth,  minster,  revenging  himself  with   jests 

of  date  March  20,  among  the  Strafford  against  Laud  and  the  Scottish  Bishops. 

Letters.     Archie,  after  having  his  Fool's  His  successor  was  a  certain  Fool  called 

coat  pulled  over  his  ears,  was  kicked  "  Muckle  John. " 

out  of  the  precincts  of  the  Court ;  and,  2  See,  in  Strafford  Letters,  a  letter  of 

but  for  his  privilege  as  Court-Fool,  he  Wentworth  to  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 

would  have  been  Star-chambered.     He  land,  of  date  July  30,  1638. 


1638-39.]  THE  SCOTTISH  COVENANTI  7 

the  revolt  of  a  nation  nominally  independent,  could  not  be 
treated  as  a  rising  in  Yorkshire  or  in  Lancashire  might  have 
been.  English  forces  could  hardly  be  marched  north,  at  a 
short  notice,  to  trample  it  out  To  this  pass,  indeed,  things 
might  come;  and  to  this  pass  Charles  was  resolved  that,  if 
necessary,  they  should  be  brought.  But  the  method  was  not 
practicable  at  the  moment,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
the  requisite  English  forces  did  not  exist.  For  the  moment, 
and  until  the  English  conscience,  or  the  official  organs  of  it, 
could  be  reconciled  to  such  a  stroke  of  imperialism,  there  was 
but  a  choice  of  two  alternatives.  Either  means  must  be 
found  within  Scotland  itself  to  crush  the  Covenanters,  or 
else  they  must  be  pacified  by  suitable  concessions.  The 
harsher  alternative  was  at  least  thought  of.  It  was  reported 
that  Maxwell,  Bishop  of  Ross,  and  the  Chancellor  Spotswood, 
had  advised  the  armed  organization,  under  the  King's  orders, 
and  with  a  display  of  English  force  in  reserve,  of  the  Non- 
Covenanting  elements  in  Scotland  The  Mackenzies,  Mackays, 
Macdonalds,  and  other  extreme  northern  clans,  following  the 
Earl  of  Seaforth,  might  unite  formidably  with  the  Aberdeen- 
shire  Gordons,  Grants,  Irvines,  and  others,  under  the  Marquis 
of  Huntley  ;  and,  in  the  south,  there  might  be  help  from  the 
retainers  of  the  houses  of  Hamilton,  Douglas,  Aimandale,  and 
Nithsdale.  But  the  diligence  of  the  Covenanters  had  "  pre- 
vened"  this  plan.  In  whatever  districts  of  the  country, 
remote  from  Edinburgh,  the  dubious  material  was  most  rife, 
there  their  agents  and  commissioners  had  been  busy.  They 
had  been  so  successful  that,  when  they  returned  to  Edinburgh, 
they  not  only  brought  with  them  the  signatures  of  "  most  of 
"  the  name  of  Hamilton,  Douglas,  Gordon,  and  all  the  Camp- 
"  bells  without  exception,"  to  the  national  Covenant,  but  were 
able,  also  to  report  that  even  the  northern  shires  of  Caithness, 
Sutherland,  Ross,  Crornarty,  Nairn,  and  Inverness  had  also 
"  for  the  most  part  subscrivit." l  Unless,  therefore,  the 
Al'--id'M-n  burgesses,  a  few  Aberdeenshire  and  J.anllshiiv 
lairds,  and  a  remnant  of  the  wilder  Bighlanders,  oottld  stand 
in  civil  war  against  the  Covenanters,  a  Scottish  civil  war, 

»  Baillio's  Letters  (Laing's  edition),  I.  70,  and  Sliding,  I.  87,  88. 


8  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

with  England  merely  looking  on  and  threatening,  seemed  out 
of  the  question.  All  this  being  reported  at  Court,  and  the 
majority  of  the  English  Councillors  being  in  favour  of  moder- 
ation, it  was  resolved,  "  after  many  tos  and  fros,"  to  send  the 
Marquis  of  Hamilton  north,  as  a  special  Commissioner  from 
the  King,  with  powers  to  treat  with  the  Covenanters.  This 
was  resolved  on  before  the  10th  of  May,  and  the  Marquis's 
commission  bears  date  the  20th  of  that  month. 

THE   MARQUIS    OF    HAMILTON'S    MISSION. 

In  choosing  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  as  his  Commissioner, 
the  King  had  acknowledged  the  importance  of  the  occasion. 
The  Marquis  was  his  kinsman  and  trusted  friend.  With  the 
exception  of  the  young  Duke  of  Lennox,  who,  though  also  of 
the  blood-royal  and  a  Scot  by  his  title,  was  English  by  his 
birth  and  associations,  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Scottish 
nobility,  taking  precedence  of  his  two  fellow -marquises, 
Huntley  and  Douglas  ;  and,  although  Oxford-bred,  and  since 
his  boyhood  a  resident  chiefly  in  England,  he  had  never 
ceased  to  attract  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen,  and  to  be 
credited  by  them  with  a  high  influence  in  their  affairs.  Nay, 
there  was  a  special  possibility  of  relation  between  him  and 
them,  of  which  the  world  had  already  heard,  and  of  which  it 
was  to  hear  more.  It  was  but  eight  years  since  a  story  had 
come  out,  and  had  even  been  the  subject  of  legal  inquiry,  to 
the  effect  that  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  cherished  a  secret 
ambition  to  be  one  day  King  of  Scotland.  Before  Charles's 
coronation- visit  to  Scotland  in  1633,  the  Scots,  it  was  said, 
resenting  his  long  absence,  and  offended  moreover  by  a  pro- 
posal which  he  had  made  to  have  the  regalia  of  Scotland 
transferred  to  London,  so  that  his  coronation  might  take 
place  there,  had  begun  to  ask  themselves  whether  the  crown 
which  Charles  did  not  seem  to  think  worth  a  journey  might 
not  have  a  fitter  wearer.  Aware  of  this  state  of  feeling,  the 
young  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  it  was  said,  had  shown  a  disposi- 
tion to  traffic  with  it,  especially  at  the  time  when,  as  leader  of 
a  volunteer  expedition  of  Scots  and  others  in  aid  of  Gustavus- 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  9 

Adolphus  (1631-2),  he  had  begun  to  have  military  dreams. 
The  story  from  the  first  had  had  a  very  apocryphal  look,  and 
the  King  had  shown  his  disbelief  in  it.  Still  it  slumbered 
in  tlic  popular  memory,  and  the  present  mission  of  the  Mar- 
quis naturally  revive. I  the  recollection  where  it  could  not  be 
utteivd.  It'  such  an  ambition  did  lurk  in  his  mind,  what  an 
opportunity  was  now  put  into  his  hands  !  Some  small  speck 
of  a  suspicion  of  this  kind  seems  to  have  been  attached  to 
tin-  Marquis  by  ill-natured  opinion  in  certain  quarters,  even 
at  the  date  of  his  mission  ;  and  subsequent  events  in  his  career 
enlarged  it  into  a  cloud,  which  still  hangs  round  his  name  in 
Royalist  histories.  For  our  part,  however,  we  see  not  the 
least  reason  to  doubt  that  Charles  was  right  in  treating  the 
suspicion  with  contempt,  and  in  showing  that  he  did  so  by 
an  net  of  public  confidence  in  his  cousin.  The  Marquis 
undertook  his  present  mission,  I  should  say,  with  the  most 
sincere  wish  to  fulfil  it  to  the  King's  desire.  As  to  his  ability 
there  mi;Jit  be  more  question.  He  was  in  his  thirty-second 
year ;  he  had  seen  some  service,  and  had  chatted  with  the 
great  Gustavus  and  known  him  in  his  rages  ;  he  was  of 
courtly  presence  and  manners  :  but,  on  the  whole,  his  ability 
was  chiefly  of  that  kind  which  might  come  from  mingling 
with  men  personally,  with  the  advantage  of  being  a  Marquis 
and  of  the  blood-royal.  In  any  business  with  the  pen,  I 
should  infer,  he  must  have  been  deficient.  His  handwriting 
is  rather  sprawling,  and  such  letters  of  his  as  I  have  seen  are 
clumsy  and  unsatisfactory.1  It  was  on  personal  power  of 
negotiation,  however,  rather  than  on  letter-writing,  that  he 
was  to  depend  in  his  dealings  with  the  Covenanters.  It 
might  not  be  without  advantage  to  him  in  this  respect  that 
hi-  mother,  the  Marchioness-Dowager,  a  woman  of  spirit,  and 
of  the  family  of  the  Cunninghams,  Karls  of  (llencairn,  was 

inu'  seen   abundant   specimens  though  a  scrawl,  is  legible.     Arundel'H 

, mdwritinir  of  Charles,  of  L-md,  Ictt                          rt,    and    with    little    or 

•lord,  of  Hamilton,  of  Arnndel,  nothing  in  them,  in  a  lar^e,   ]x>mpou8, 

and,   ii.                        'm-.-t   all   the  states-  flowing  hand.     L-md's  hand  is  romp...  t . 

;.it    day.  in  the  KOOd,  *nd  clear.     Cottin.  t.-n'- is  agOOO 

'  'Hire.   F  may  iriv.-'it  a-  my  hand.      <  'Lirl. •-'-   i-   pcrliajw   the    moot 

illy,    the    n  nit    of    all.   with    th«-  «-\r.-ption   of 

.tl'ord1-.  uhirh  is  singularly  like  it, 

if   not   beautiful,   hand*.      Hamilton's,  but  still  more  beautiful. 


10  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

herself  a  most  zealous  Covenanter,  and  that  his  sisters  were 
married  into  the  Covenanting  houses  of  Eglintoun  and 
Lindsay.  Moreover,  he  was  to  take  with  him,  as  his  chap- 
lain and  private  adviser,  a  certain  Dr.  Walter  Balcanquhal,  a 
Scotsman  of  Cambridge  training,  who  had  risen  in  the 
English  Church  to  the  Deanery  of  Eochester,  had  many  cor- 
respondents among  the  Scottish  clergy,  and  was  reputed  a 
perfect  nonsuch,  even  among  Scots,  for  intriguing  ability. 
Nay,  that  the  hands  of  the  noble  Commissioner  might  be 
strengthened  to  the  uttermost,  it  was  ordered  that  all  Scots- 
men of  rank  or  influence  usually  residing  in  England,  or  who 
had  come  up  to  Court  to  help  in  the  consultation,  should 
precede  him  into  Scotland,  so  as  to  be  at  his  service.  Some 
of  the  Scottish  Bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics  who  had  gone 
to  London  were  loth  to  obey  this  command,  and  offered 
meanwhile  to  reside  in  Bath, — in  Bath  or  anywhere, — rather 
than  return  to  their  own  country  while  it  was  too  hot  for 
them.  But  no  excuse  was  accepted,  and  go  they  must.1 

Among  the  Scots  who  had  come  up  to  London  to  give  their 
advice,  and  who  now  preceded  the  Marquis  back  to  Scotland, 
was  one  whose  name  has  been  yet  but  barely  mentioned  in 
this  History.  This  was  Archibald  Campbell,  Lord  Lome, 
better  known  afterwards  as  Earl  and  Marquis  of  Argyle. 
During  the  troubles  of  the  preceding  year  respecting  the  Ser- 
vice-Book  and  the  Book  of  Canons,  none  of  the  Scottish  Privy- 
Councillors,  not  actually  in  league  with  the  Dissentients,  had 
been  more  fair  and  courteous  to  the  Dissentients  than  he  ;  and, 
though  he  still  held  officially  with  the  King,  the  Covenanters 
had  conceived  hopes  that  his  meditations,  which  were  known 
to  be  those  of  a  very  politic  mind,  would  bring  him  nearer  to 
them  in  the  end.  It  was  an  event  greatly  to  be  wished.  The 
circumstances  of  Lord  Lome,  and  of  the  whole  Argyle  family, 
at  that  time,  were  peculiar.  His  father,  Archibald,  7th  Earl 
of  Argyle,  who  had  held  that  title  since  1584,  was  still  alive, 
but  as  good  as  dead  to  the  general  world.  For  in  the  life  of 


^Burnet's  Lives  of  the  Hamiltons  1840),  224;  Baillie,  I.  75,  76;  and  Let- 
(edit.  1852),  1 — 49  ;  Stevenson's  Hist,  of  ters  of  Balcanquhal  in  Appendix  to 
the  Church  of  Scotland  (one  vol.  edit.  Baillie,  vols.  I.  and  II. 


1638-39.]  MAJIQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  11 

this  now  aged  peer  there  had  been  two  stages.  His  memory 
could  go  back  to  the  time  when  he  was  a  conspicuous  man  in 
James's  Scottish  Court,  before  James  had  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  England.  Then  ho  had  maintained  the  Protestant 
reputation  of  liis  family.  By  his  wife,  Lady  Anne  Douglas, 
daughter  of  the  1st  Earl  of  Morton,  and  celebrated  as  the 
"Aurora"  of  the  Earl  of  Stirling's  poetry,  he  had  been  the 
father  of  five  children,  all  of  whom  had  been  educated  as 
Protestants.  One  of  these,  the  only  son,  was  the  Lord  Lorne 
with  whom  we  are  now  concerned, — forty  years  of  age,  married, 
and  with  children  ;  and,  of  the  daughters,  one,  considerably 
older  than  Lorm*,  was  now  the  Marchioness  of  Huntley,  while 
another  was  Countess  of  Lothian,  and  a  third  was  the  widow 
of  Viscount  Ken  mure.  But  from  these  members  of  his  first 
family  the  Earl  had  long  been  estranged.  As  long  ago  as 
1610,  he  had  married,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Botolph,  Bishops- 
gate,  his  second  wife,  a  Roman  Catholic  English  lady,  by 
whom  he  had  had  a  second  family.  Having  himself  become 
a  Roman  Catholic  in  consequence  of  this  marriage,  he  had 
been  abroad  in  the  Spanish  service  against  the  Hollanders ; 
and,  after  his  return,  he  had  resided  chiefly  in  or  near  London, 
in  such  retirement  as  was  then  possible  for  a  Roman  Catholic 
of  liis  rank,  and  with  little  correspondence  with  Scotland,  or 
any  of  his  first  family  there,  unless  it  might  be  the  Mar- 
chioness of  Huntley.  Nay,  in  Scotland,  it  had  been  found 
necessary  to  incapacitate  him  on  account  of  his  religion,  and 
to  transfer  the  estates  and  the  great  hereditary  power  belong- 
ing to  the  house  of  Argyle  to  his  heir,  Lord  Lorne.  This 
arrangement,  completed  in  the  Scottish  Parliament  of  1633, 
at  the  time  of  Charles's  coronation -visit,  and  with  his 
consent,  had  naturally  not  improved  relations  between  the 
latin -i  and  the  son.  "  Sir,  I  must  know  this  young  man  better 
"  than  yon  do,"  is  Clarendon's  account,  as  if  from  the  Kin^'> 
own  lips  long  afterwards,  of  what  the  chagrined  old  Earl  had 
said  to  the  King  about  this  time  :  "  you  have  brought  me  low 
"  that  you  may  raise  him;  which  I  doubt  you  will  live  to 
"  repent :  for  he  is  a  man  of  craft,  sublety,  and  falsehood, 
-  and  can  love  no  man  ;  and,  if  ever  lie  finds  it  in  his  power 


12  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  to  do  you  mischief,  he  will  be  sure  to  do  it."  About  the 
truth  of  which  story,  though  we  quote  it  here  for  reasons 
that  will  appear,  there  are  strong  doubts.  Certain  it  is, 
however,  that  the  superannuated  Earl  saw  little  of  his  son, 
and  led,  in  his  old  age,  a  life  of  weak  and  invalid  dignity 
very  much  by  himself.  The  best  glimpse  I  have  found  of 
him  is  in  a  poem  addressed  to  him  by  the  Eoman  Catholic 
poet  Habington,  in  his  Castara.  Among  other  things,  Ha- 
bington  says : 

"  If  your  example  be  obeyed, 
The  serious  few  will  live  i'  the  silent  shade, 

And  not  endanger,  by  the  wind 
Or  sunshine,  the  complexion  of  their  mind." 

A  very  pleasant  mode  of  life  for  those  who  can  follow  it,  but 
not  the  mode  of  life  by  which  the  Campbells  had  become 
Earls  of  Argyle,  nor  that  by  which  a  real  Earl  of  Argyle, 
whether  a  Campbell  or  not,  could  then  lead  in  Britain ! 
Accordingly,  while  this  Archibald,  7th  Earl  of  Argyle,  has 
his  place  in  the  line  of  the  Earls,  he  is  of  interest  chiefly  as 
the  father  of  that  Archibald,  Lord  Lome,  afterwards  8th  Earl, 
who,  with  perhaps  some  of  the  same  hereditary  character- 
istics, was  to  lead  so  different  a  life,  and  was  to  transmit  the 
name  of  Argyle  onwards  with  its  greatest  increase  of  fame. 
Already,  as  Lord  Lome,  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council,  he 
was  so  important  a  man  in  Scotland  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
anxiety  with  the  Covenanters  what  part  he  would  take.  For 
would  he  not  be  Earl  of  Argyle  on  the  death  of  his  super- 
annuated father,  and  was  he  not  already  Earl  of  Argyle  in  all 
but  the  name  ?  To  be  Earl  of  Argyle  did  not  yet  mean  all 
that  he  was  to  make  it  mean  ;  but  it  meant  more  than  could 
then  be  well  understood  out  of  Scotland.  It  meant  to  be 
lord  of  all  Argyleshire,  with  the  Isles  and  West  Highlands 
adjacent,  exercising  over  that  vast  Gaelic  region  the  power  at 
once  of  a  hereditary  Celtic  chief  and  of  an  authorized  jus- 
ticiary in  the  name  of  the  Scottish  realm ;  and  it  meant  to 
possess  in  Scottish  affairs  generally  all  that  weight  which 
belonged  to  the  brain  of  a  Campbell,  itself  not  originally 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S   MISSION.  13 

Celtic,  wielding  aa  it  might  please,  for  any  cause  or  against 
any  cause,  those  leagues  of  mountain,  loch,  and  seabord  over 
which  such  sway  had  been  won  for  it  by  ages  of  past  acqui- 
sitiveness. Only  conceive,  for  example,  one  consequent 
which  would  have  followed  if  Lome  had  declared  himself 
inwocably  against  the  Covenant.  The  Marquis  of  Huntley 
was  his  brother-in-law,  and  it  would  then  have  been  possible 
for  the  two  brothers-in-law  to  hold  between  them  the  whole 
south-west  of  Scotland  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  whole  north- 
east on  the  other,  against  the  intermediate  Lowlands.  Little 
wonder  that  Lome's  behaviour,  when  he  had  been  summoned 
to  Court  to  advise  on  Scottish  affairs,  was  a  matter  of  deep 
interest.  "  We  tremble  for  Lome,"  writes  Baillie,  "  that  the 
"  King  either  persuade  him  to  go  his  way,  or  find  him  errands 
"  at  Court  for  a  long  time."  But  the  news  was  reassuring. 
"  The  plainness  of  Lome,"  says  Baillie  in  a  subsequent  letter, 
"  is  much  talked  of:  nothing  he  is  said  to  have  dissembled 
"  of  all  he  knew  of  our  country's  grievances,  of  his  own  full 
"  inislike  of  the  Books,  of  the  Articles  of  Perth,  of  the 
"  Bishops'  misgovernment,  of  his  resolution  to  leave  the 
"  kingdom  rather  than  consent  to  the  pressing  of  any  other, 
"  let  be  of  himself  and  his  servants,  with  these  burdens 
"  which  were  against;  conscience."  He  is  said  even  to  have 
come  into  personal  conflict  with  Laud  on  these  points ;  and 
there  is  a  story  that  his  old  father,  the  Earl,  thought  it  his 
duty  to  come  forth  once  more  from  his  "silent  shade,"  and 
advise  his  Majesty  that,  if  that  son  of  his  were  allowed  to  go 
back,  sorrow  and  evil  would  ensue.  But  Lome,  did  go  back,— 
to  become,  within  a  few  months  (October  1638),  Earl  of  Argyle, 
l.y  the  nl.l  peer's  long-expected  death,  and  to  enter  on  a  vary 
grave  and  difficult  career.  Let  the  reader,  for  the  present, 
without  prejudging  that  career,  distinctly  think  of  him  as  a 
man  coming  into  the  ascendant  in  Scotland.  Clarendon's 
account  of  him  as  a  person  of  dark  and  sinuous  ways,  against 
wliiuii  even  his  own  father  had  inn-warned  the  King,  has  been 
thr  keynote  to  most  of  the  representations  of  him  by  subse- 
•  pu-nt  Kn-li-h  historians.  Thegeniusof  Scott,  too,  has  helped 
to  stamp  permanently  mi  th«-  minds  <>f  his  own  countrymen 


14  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

an  image  of  him  only  a  shade  less  unlovely.  Who  that  has 
read  the  Legend  of  Montrose  can  forget  "  Gillespie  Grumach/' 
the  wily  Presbyterian  Marquis,  with  the  severe  visage  and 
the  sinister  cast  in  one  of  his  eyes,  at  whose  castle-gate  in 
Inveraray  were  the  block  and  the  sawdust  yet  wet  with  the 
blood  of  the  Children  of  the  Mist,  and  from  whose  meshes 
the  valiant  Eitt-master,  Dugald  Dalgetty,  escaped  so  splen- 
didly by  recognising  him  in  his  disguise,  and  leaving  him 
pinned  to  the  ground  in  his  own  dungeon  ?  This  Gillespie 
Grumach  of  the  novel,  contrasted  so  strikingly  throughout  it 
with  Scott's  favourite,  the  chivalrous  Montrose,  is  Scott's  re- 
presentation of  our  present  Lord  Lome  at  a  later  period  of 
his  life.  We  shall  have  to  see  both  the  men  for  ourselves 
in  the  light  of  their  own  actions.  Meanwhile  let  neither  be 
prejudged.  Let  Lome  be  imagined  at  the  age  of  forty, 
sombre  and  serious  in  appearance,  as  Vandyke  might  have 
painted  a  Calvinistic  courtier,  certainly  with  an  oblique  cast 
in  one  eye,  and  certainly  with  a  mind  of  the  astute  order, 
but  whether  sinister  or  not  as  yet  unascertained.  Let  it  be 
remembered  also  that  it  was  not  he  that  was  at  present  the 
Covenanter,  but  his  future  rival,  Montrose.  A  brave  young 
hot -head  of  six -and -twenty,  Montrose  had  remained  in 
Scotland,  one  of  the  acting  chiefs  of  the  Covenanting  com- 
mittee, during  that  very  journey  of  Lome's  to  London 
from  which  he  was  now  returning  to  aid  the  Marquis  of 
Hamilton.1 

The  Marquis  set  out  from  London  on  Saturday  the  26th 
of  May.  Eight  days  brought  him  to  the  Scottish  border,  and 
on  the  5th  of  June  he  was  at  Dalkeith,  near  Edinburgh.  If 
possible,  according  to  his  instructions,  he  was  to  avoid  making 
Edinburgh  the  seat  of  negotiations.  The  Covenanters,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  determined  that  at  Edinburgh  alone  would 
continuous  negotiation  be  convenient ;  and  hence  only  a  few 
of  their  chiefs,  and  they  for  the  sake  of  form,  attended  the 

1  Douglas's  Scottish  Peerage,  by  Wood  '  Countess  and  an  Elegy  on  the  death  of 

(Argyle) ;  Habington's  Poems,  in  Chal-  a  promising  son  of  theirs,  "the  Hon. 

mers's  collection  (where  see,  in  addition  Henry  Campbell ") ;  Clarendon's  Hist, 

to  the  poem  to  the  Earl  referred  to  in  (Oxford,  one  vol.  edit,  of  1843),  pp.  51, 

the  text,  one  addressed  to  his  second  52 ;  Baillie,  I.  65 — 73. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS   OF  HAMILTON'S   MISSION.  1  " 

Marquis  either  at  the  Border  or  at  Dalkeith.  At  length, 
chiefly  by  the  mediation  of  Lome,  the  matter  was  arranged, 
ami  the  Marquis  consented  to  take  up  his  residence  in  the 
palace  of  Holyrood.  On  the  9th  of  June  he  made  his  public 
entry  into  Edinburgh  by  way  of  Leith.  The  gathering  to 
him  was  such  as  might  have  greeted  Charles  himself. 
Tin -re  was  an  assemblage  of  Covenanters,  20,000  strong,  in 
addition  to  magistrates  and  officials  in  procession,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  women  and  children  defying  number ;  and  at  one 
point  of  the  progress,  between  Leith  and  Edinburgh,  there 
was  a  body  of  more  than  500  clergymen  (more  than  half  the 
rl.-r_ry  of  the  entire  kingdom),  posted  "on  a  brae-side  on  the 
links,"  all  clad  in  their  black  cloaks,  and  headed  by  "Mr. 
"  William  Livingstone,  the  strongest  in  voice  and  austerest  in 
"  countenance  of  us  all,"  ready  with  a  speech  of  welcome. 
This  speech  was  declined  by  the  Marquis,  from  fear  of  what 
illicit  be  in  it ;  but  his  demeanour  was  most  gracious ;  and 
the  sight  of  all  that  throng  of  his  fellow-subjects,  men,  women 
and  children,  doing  homage  to  him  as  he  passed,  and  crying 
out  this  and  that  about  their  liberties  and  their  religion, 
moved  him  even  to  tears.1 

And  now  for  the  great  work  of  the  negotiation.  Who,  in 
the  first  place,  are  the  negotiating  parties  ?  On  the  one  side 
is  the  Marquis  himself,  surrounded  by  those  Lords  of  the 
Council  and  others  who,  not  having  subscribed  the  Covenant, 
miurlit  be  presumed  anxious  to  bring  about  whatever  settle- 
ment the  Marquis  might  propound  as  the  King's  pleasure. 
Tin -re  was  the  Chancellor- Archbishop  Spotswood,  with  other 
prelates  more  in  the  background ;  there  were  the  Treasurer 
Traquair,  and  the  Privy  Seal  Roxburgh  ;  there  was  the  Mar- 
quis  of  Huntley ;  there  were  the  Earls  of  Marischal,  Mar, 
Moray,  Linlith^ow,  Perth,  Wilton,  Kinghorn,  Tullibardine, 
Haddinuiuii,  Annandale.  Lauderdule,  Kiniioull.  Dumfries, 
Southesk,  Angus,  and  Morton ;  there  were  the  Lords  Lome, 
Belhaven,  Elphinstone,  Napier,  Dalzell,  and  Almont;  and. 
aniniiu'  oth.. ix,  ih,. iv  \\vre  the  Treasurer-Depute  Sir  Jam.- 
<  'armiehael,  the  King's  Advocate  Sir  Thomas  Hope,  the  ( 'lerk- 

1  Kushworth,  II.  749,  750 ;  Baillio,  I.  82—84 ;  and  Stevenson,  226,  227. 


16  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

Eegister  Sir  John  Hay,  the  Chief  Justice  Sir  William 
Elphinstone,  and  the  Justice-Clerk  Sir  John  Hamilton.  Not 
that  all  of  these  were  equally  committed.  Some,  such  as 
Lome  and  Sir  Thomas  Hope,  were  almost  completely  with 
the  Covenanters  at  heart ;  and  others  were  waiting  anxiously 
for  the  production  of  the  Marquis's  proposals,  and  hoping  that 
they  would  not  be  too  Prelatic.  On  the  other  side  were  the 
Covenanting  Chiefs,  lay  and  clerical,  acting  together  under 
regular  commissions  for  the  country  at  large,  and  suffering 
nothing  to  go  forth  as  the  opinion  of  the  body  until  after 
it  had  been  fully  determined  in  their  four  Committees,  or 
"  Tables,"  of  the  Nobles,  the  Lesser  Barons  or  Lairds,  the 
Burghs,  and  the  Clergy,  respectively  or  in  conference.  Prom 
time  to  time,  as  the  negotiation  goes  on,  the  composition  of 
the  several  Tables  is  changed,  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of 
detaining  the  same  men  so  long  from  their  homes  and  occu- 
pations. The  leaders  are,  however,  the  same  throughout. 
Among  the  Nobles  are  the  Earls  of  Eothes,  Cassilis,  Montrose, 
Sutherland,  Eglintoun,  and  Lothian,  and  the  Lords  Loudoun, 
Wemyss,  Home,  Lindsay,  Tester,  Burleigh,  Cranstoun,  Boyd, 
Sinclair,  and  Balmerino  ;  among  the  Lairds  and  the  Commis- 
sioners from  the  Burghs  are  Johnstone  of  Warriston,  Douglas 
of  Cavers,  Gibson  of  Durie,  John  Smith  of  Edinburgh,  &c. ; 
and  among  the  Clergy  are  such  resident  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh as  Mr.  Andrew  Eamsay  and  Mr.  Henry  Bollock,  and 
such  distinguished  deputies  from  other  Presbyteries  as  Mr. 
Alexander  Henderson,  Mr.  David  Dickson,  Mr.  Andrew  Cant, 
Mr.  Bobert  Baillie,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Butherford.  Young  Mr. 
George  Gillespie,  just  appointed  to  the  parish  of  Wernyss  in 
Fifeshire,  and  now  known  as  the  author  of  the  anonymous 
book,  "  The  English-Popish  Ceremonies,"  which  had  given 
such  offence  to  the  Prelatists  in  the  previous  year,  is  begin- 
ning to  be  talked  of  as  one  of  the  "rising  wits"  of  the 
clerical  body,  and  to  have  some  weight  in  the  counsels  of  his 
seniors.  The  men  named  are,  in  fact,  the  real  Government  of 
Scotland,  reposing  on  the  all  but  universal  feeling  of  the 
people :  the  Marquis  is  but  the  plenipotentiary  sent  to  treat 
with  them,  and  associated  for  that  purpose  with  the  wrecks. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  17 

of  the  former  Government  or  King's  Council.  Between  UK- 
two  parties  move  the  intriguers,  Balcanquhal  and  others. 
Ortuin  pens  also  are  permanently  busy  on  both  sides.  On 
the  side  of  the  Covenanters  it  is  Mr.  Henderson,  minister  of 
Leuchars  in  Fifeshire,  that  is  always  applied  to  when  a  paper 
of  unusual  weight  and  ability  is  wanted  ;  and  it  is  the  lawyer, 
Johnstone  of  Warriston,  that  registers  everything,  takes  copies 
of  everything,  sees  that  all  is  in  form,  and  unites  the  vigilance 
of  a  secretary-in-chief  with  the  laboriousness  of  a  clerk. 

Negotiations  must  be  on  some  basis.  It  is  implied  in  the 
very  word  that  certain  demands  are  put  forth  on  the  one  side 
and  certain  offers  on  the  other,  and  that  there  is  a  trial  of 
firmness  and  skill  to  determine  in  what  way  the  offers  and  the 
demands  are  to  be  made  to  meet.  What  were  the  demands 
of  the  Covenanters  ?  These  had  already  been  formally  made 
known  at  Court  as  reducible  to  eight :  ( 1 )  the  discharging  of 
the  Service-Book  and  the  Book  of  Canons ;  (2)  the  abolition 
of  the  High  Commission  as  a  judicatory  in  any  form  ;  (3)  the 
repeal  of  the  Articles  of  Perth  ;  (4)  the  limitation  of  the  civil 
power  of  Kirkmen,  if  not  their  entire  exclusion  from  Parlia- 
ment ;  (5)  the  discontinuance  of  certain  tests  and  oaths  used  by 
the  Bishops  to  exclude  or  eject  persons  of  Presbyterian  views 
from  parish-livings,  schools,  and  the  Universities;  (6)  the 
restitution  of  General  Assemblies  of  the  Kirk,  and  the 
speedy  holding  of  one  ;  (7)  the  speedy  calling  of  a  Parliament; 
(8)  liberty  both  in  the  Assembly  and  in  the  Parliament  to  dis- 
cuss other  reforms  in  detail.1  As  meeting  these  demands,  what 
was  the  Marquis  empowered  to  offer  ?  We  know  this  very 
exactly  now  from  certain  documents  which  he  carried  witli 
him,  bearing  date  before  his  commission,  but  which  he  did 
not  find  it  convenient  or  indeed  possible  fully  to  divulge. 
One  was  a  Royal  Declaration  or  Proclamation,  which  lie  was 
to  publish  when  he  saw  fit.  Its  purport  was  that  his 
Majesty,  being  and  always  having  been  a  sound  Protestant, 
could  not  but  consider  the  fears  of  his  Scottish  subjects  as  to 
;niy  int.-ii'l.-'l  "  iiil.riiiLiii)^  of  Popery  "  among  them  under  his 
i  ul«-  totally  unreasonable ;  but  that,  to  allay  these  fears,  he 

»  See  Original  Paper  in  Stevenson,  218—220. 
VOL.  II  C 


18  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

was  willing  that  the  Service-Book  and  the  Canons  should  not 
be  pressed  except  in  a  legal  way,  that  the  High  Commission 
should  be  rectified,  and  that  an  Assembly  and  a  Parliament 
should  be  called  at  a  convenient  time.  These  favours,  how- 
ever, were  to  be  conditional  on  the  immediate  return  of  his 
Scottish  subjects  to  their  allegiance;  and  this  was  to  be 
proved  by  their  appearing  before  competent  authorities  "  in 
burgh  and  land  "  and  individually  renouncing  the  Covenant, 
and  by  their  "  delivering  up,  or  continuing  with  their  best 
endeavours  to  procure  the  delivering  up,"  into  the  hands  of 
the  Council  or  their  agents,  all  copies  of  the  Covenant.1  In 
the  private  instructions  of  the  Marquis  there  were  certain 
farther  explanations  for  his  own  guidance.  Before  publishing 
the  Koyal  Declaration  he  was  to  endeavour  to  get  all  the 
Council  to  sign  it  and  swear  to  assist  in  executing  it ;  no 
petitions  were  to  be  received  against  the  Declaration  or  against 
the  Articles  of  Perth,  and,  if  any  dared  to  protest  against  the 
Declaration,  they  were  to  be  arrested ;  nevertheless,  the 
Articles  of  Perth  were  in  the  meantime  not  to  be  enforced, 
and  all  acts  enforcing  the  Service-Book  were  to  be  void.  The 
time  to  be  allowed  for  delivering  up  the  Covenant  was  to  be 
six  weeks  after  the  publishing  of  the  Declaration ;  and,  if 
necessary,  it  was  to  be  announced  that,  should  there  not  be 
sufficient  power  in  Scotland  to  overcome  opposition,  power 
should  come  from  England,  and  the  King  himself  with  it, 
"  being  resolved  to  hazard  his  life  rather  than  suffer  authority 
"  to  be  contemned."  Finally,  should  words  be  of  no  avail,  the 
Marquis  himself  was  to  "command  all  hostile  acts  whatso- 
ever," and  so  commence  the  inevitable  war.2 

The  Marquis  had  not  been  two  days  on  the  Scottish  side  of 
the  Border  when,  as  if  informed  of  the  real  state  of  things 
by  the  very  air  that  blew  about  him,  he  had  become  con- 
vinced that  it  would  be  madness  to  publish  the  King's  De- 
claration, or  even  to  let  its  contents  be  generally  known.  To 
this  effect  he  must  have  written  to  the  King  before  leaving 

1  Burnet's  Lives  of  the   Hamiltons  2  See  the  instructions  in  Rush  worth, 

(1677),  pp.  43,  46.     Burnet  gives  two  II.  746,  747  ;  and  in  Stevenson,  222— 

drafts  of  the  Proclamation, — a  stronger  224. 
and  earlier,  and  a  milder  and  later. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  19 

I  )alkeith  ;  for,  in  a  letter  dated  "  Greenwich  June  11,"  Chni  l.-s 
replies  in  a  strain  of  anger  and  chagrin.  "  I  expect  not,"  he 
says,  "  anything  can  reduce  that  people  to  obedience  but  force 
"  only ;  in  the  meantime  your  care  must  be  how  to  dissolve 
"  the  multitude,  and,  if  it  be  possible,  to  possess  yourself  of 
"  my  two  castles  of  Edinburgh  and  Stirling  (which  I  do  not 
"  I'xpect) ;  and,  to  this  end,  I  give  you  leave  to  flatter  them 
"  with  what  hopes  you  please,  so  you  engage  not  me  against 
"  my  grounds,  and  in  particular  that  you  consent  not  to 
"  the  calling  of  Parliament  nor  of  General  Assembly  until  the 
"  Covenant  be  disavowed  and  given  up, — your  chief  end 
"  being  now  to  win  time,  until  I  be  ready  to  suppress  them." 
Hi-  Majesty  farther  says  that,  should  the  Declaration  be  pub- 
lished, the  Marquis  need  not  observe  his  previous  instruction 
to  declare  traitors  all  who  should  not  within  six  weeks  obey 
the  command  to  renounce  the  Covenant,  but  may  wait  till  he 
hears  that  a  fleet  "  hath  set  sail  for  Scotland  "  before  adopting 
that  measure.1  Received  by  the  Marquis  in  Edinburgh  on 
the  15th  of  June,  this  letter  becomes  a  supplement  to  his 

inal  instructions. 

To  narrate  step  by  step  the  progress  of  the  negotiations  or 
seeming  negotiations  between  Hamilton  and  the  Covenanting 
leaders  in  Edinburgh  would  be  tedious.  A  sketch  must  suf- 
fice : — Acting  on  his  paramount  instruction  "  to  win  time," 
the  Marquis  prudently  kept  the  Royal  Declaration  in  his 
pocket,  not  venturing  to  try  its  effects  even  on  the  Coun- 
cillors. But  the  Covenanters,  having  obtained  a  general 
knowledge  of  its  contents,  and  especially  of  its  demand  of  a 
surrender  of  the  Covenant  as  conditional  to  even  such  un- 
satisfactory scraps  of  concession  as  it  promised,  were  prepared, 
whensoever  and  wheresoever  it  might  be  published  by  the 
royal  heralds,  to  meet  it  with  as  open  a  protest.  Abroad 
thniiigh  the  land  also  flew  the  news  of  what  the  unpublished 
Proclamation  contained,  so  that  all  the  pulpits  rang  with 
preachings  in  defence  of  the  Covenant  and  against  its  sur- 
render. A  powerful  Paper  of  Reasons  on  the  same  subject 
the  pen  of  Henderson  was  put  in  circulation.  Nay,  it 

'    I!. i-l, worth.   II 


20  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

began  here  and  there  to  be  discussed,  not  quite  secretly, 
whether,  if  the  Parliament  and  the  Assembly  were  obstinately 
refused  by  the  King  except  on  impossible  conditions,  the 
Laws  of  Scotland  and  of  Nature  might  not  permit  equivalent 
conventions  on  the  mere  authority  of  the  subject.  Startled 
more  by  this  last  turn  of  the  discussion  than  by  anything  else, 
Hamilton  went  to  the  utmost  length  of  kindliness  allowed 
him  by  his  instructions.  He  conferred  with  Henderson  ;  he 
signified  that  it  was  in  his  Commission  to  promise  both  an 
Assembly  and  a  Parliament ;  and,  as  for  the  surrender  of  the 
Covenant — why,  "  surrender  "  was  a  very  strong  word,  and 
the  Marquis  could  sympathise  with  the  Covenanters  in  their 
feelings  about  it ;  but  then  they  also  ought  to  be  reasonable ! 
The  King  was  a  crowned  head  ;  he  had  his  reputation  to  sus- 
tain among  crowned  heads  ;  this  Covenant  of  a  whole  nation 
was  an  anomaly  in  Europe,  at  which  all  Sovereigns  were 
looking  with  surprise  ;  how  could  Charles  but  feel  the  matter 
keenly  ?  But  might  not  the  Covenanters  themselves  smooth 
the  way  for  him  ?  Might  they  not  put  forth,  say,  some  "  ex- 
plication "  of  their  Covenant  that  would  rob  it  of  its  defiant 
and  disloyal  character,  and  enable  the  King  to  be  gracious 
without  too  evident  an  abatement  of  his  kingly  dignity  ? 

Such  was  the  tenor  of  Hamilton's  suggestions  respecting 
the  Proclamation  which  he  still  prudently  withheld.  He 
had  a  kind  of  success.  The  Tables,  on  the  23rd  of  June,  did 
agree  to  an  "  explication  "  of  the  Covenant,  in  which,  while 
reiterating  their  claims,  they  professed  them  and  the  Cove- 
nant to  be,  in  their  intent,  consistent  with  that  loyalty  which 
they  owed  to  the  Government  of  his  Majesty,  consecrated  as 
it  was  "  by  the  descent  and  under  the  reigns  of  1 0  7  kings." 
Having  obtained  this  explication,  and  regarding  it  as  at  least 
something  that  could  be  pointed  to  as  a  proof  of  his  good 
management,  Hamilton  suddenly  announced  that  it  would 
be  necessary  for  him  to  return  to  Court  for  personal  confer- 
ence with  his  Majesty.  The  Covenanters,  though  a  little 
vexed  at  this  resolution,  were  reconciled  to  it  by  the  promise 
that  none  of  the  Bishops  should  accompany  him.  They  saw 
the  Marquis  depart  on  Sunday  the  1st  of  July.  The  very 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  21 

next  day,  however,  he  was  back  among  them.  Before  he  had 
got  far  from  Edinburgh,  letters  from  the  King  had  reached 
him  in  answer  to  previous  letters  of  his  relating  to  the  expli- 
cation of  the  Covenant  and  other  matters.  "As  concerning 
"  the  explanation  of  their  damnable  Covenant,"  said  his 
Majesty  in  a  letter  dated  from  Greenwich  June  25,  "  whether 

it  l>e  with  or  without  explanation,  I  have  no  more  power  in 
"  Scotland  than  as  a  Duke  of  Venice, — which  1  will  die  rather 

than  suffer ;  yet  I  command  the  giving  ear  to  their  explana- 
"  t  ion,  or  anything  else,  to  win  time."  But  the  reputed  inten- 
tion of  the  Covenanters  to  hold  an  Assembly  and  Parliament 
without  his  leave  had  touched  his  Majesty  to  the  quick.  He 
could  "  hardly  be  sorry,"  he  says,  if  they  did  go  that  length  ; 
"  it  would  the  more  loudly  declare  them  traitors  and  the 
"  more  justify  my  actions  "  ;  and  "  therefore,  in  my  mind,  my 
Declaration  should  not  be  long  delayed."  This  was  a  bare 
opinion,  he  added,  and  no  command.  Evidently,  however, 
the  Marquis  received  it  as  a  hint  that  it  might  be  to  his  dis- 
credit at  Court  if  he  returned  with  the  Declaration  still  in 
his  pocket.  Hence  his  reappearance  in  Edinburgh.  During 
two  days  he  was  busy  with  the  Councillors,  and  with  such 
effect  that  he  obtained  the  signatures  of  all  of  them  to  the 
Declaration,  except  Lome  and  Southesk ;  and  on  the  4th  of 
'Inly  the  Declaration  was  in  all  form  proclaimed  at  the  Cross 
in  the  High  Street.  Not  exactly  the  original  Declaration, 
however, — which  even  the  Councillors  would  not  have  signed, 
—but  a  modification  of  it,  dated  "  Greenwich  June  28,"  con- 
taining the  same  promises  as  the  original,  and  similar  threats, 
but  rather  implying  the  surrender  of  the  Covenant  than 
directly  commanding  it.1  For  the  Covenanters,  however,  the 
modified  Declaration  was  as  bad  as  the  original  would  have 
been,  and  they  met  it  as  they  had  resolved  they  would.  The 
moment  that  tin-  l'r»< -lanmtion  had  been  made  by  the  royal 
In  -raids  at  the  Cross,  .Johnstone  of  Warriston,  stepping  forward 
on  a  wooden  platform  which  had  been  erected  for  the  purpose 
on  thr  same  SJH.I,  read  forth,  amid  the  cheers  of  the  multi- 
tude, tin-  prepared  document  in  which  he  and  other  repivscnt- 
1  800  the  Declaration  in  ttiwh worth,  II.  751 


22  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

atives  of  the  Covenanters,  in  their  several  orders  as  Nobles, 
Lairds,  Burgesses,  and  Clergy,  did  protest  against  the  Koyal 
Declaration  as  "  miskenning,  passing  over,  and  in  effect  deny- 
ing "  all  the  matters  at  issue,  as  doing  wrong  to  the  motives 
of  the  nation,  and  as,  in  its  offers,  utterly  insufficient.1  For  a 
day  or  two  afterwards  all  was  anger  and  turmoil.  Eothes, 
Montrose,  and  Loudoun  came  to  high  words  with  the  Mar- 
quis ;  and  the  Councillors  who  had  been  induced  to  sign  the 
Declaration  repented  of  their  act  as  a  mistake,  recovered  the 
copies  they  had  signed,  and  tore  them  to  pieces.  At  length 
ruffled  spirits  were  somewhat  calmed,  and,  on  the  same 
understanding  as  before,  the  Marquis  on  the  8th  of  July  did 
set  out  for  London. 

While  the  Marquis  is  in  London,  conferring  with  the  King, 
let  us  take  a  view  of  the  situation  for  ourselves.  Readers  of 
Clarendon  may  remember  what  a  glowing  picture  he  gives,  in 
the  First  Book  of  his  History,  of  the  singularly  happy  condition 
of  the  three  kingdoms  during  that  period  of  "  Thorough,"  or 
arbitrary  government  by  the  King,  which  had  now  lasted  for  ten 
years.  Full  warehouses,  bursting  granaries,  a  prosperity  casting 
the  golden  days  of  Elizabeth  into  the  shade,  "the  greatest 
calm  and  the  fullest  measure  of  felicity  that  any  people  in 
any  age  for  so  long  a  time  together  have  been  blessed  with  " 
— such  is  the  picture.  When  this  unexampled  calm  was 
disturbed  by  a  rude  blast  from  the  North,  when  into  this 
paradisaic  condition  of  things  there  entered  the  Devil  from 
Scotland,  then,  proceeds  the  historian,  it  was  owing  only  to 
the  King's  exceeding  clemency,  to  "  his  excellency  of  nature 
and  his  tenderness  of  blood,"  that  the  interruption  was  not 
straightway  quashed,  and  peace  and  Paradise  restored.  It 
was  not  from  lack  of  means  !  There  was  a  "  stronger  fleet  at 
sea  than  the  nation  had  ever  been  acquainted  with  " ;  the 
revenue  had  been  "  so  well  improved  and  so  warily  managed 
that  there  was  money  in  the  Exchequer  proportionable  for 
the  undertaking  of  any  noble  enterprise,"  much  more  for 
the  putting  down  of  a  petty  Presbyterian  revolt ;  the  English 
army  had  "  as  good  and  experienced  officers  as  were  to  be 

1  See  Protestation  (a  long  document)  in  Rushworth,  II.  756 — 761. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF   HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  23 

found  at  that  time  in  <  'hristrmlnm  "  !  The  contrast  between 
these  assertions  of  Clarendon,  which  were  but  his  hazy  recol- 
lections of  the  time  long  after  it  was  gone,  and  the  authentic 
statements  of  contemporary  documents,  is  one  of  the  curiosi- 
ties of  historical  literature.  Charles,  we  have  seen,  had 
negotiated  with  the  Scots  only  because  he  lacked  means  for 
a  more  imperious  mode  of  dealing  with  them.  Nay,  while 
negotiating  with  them,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  still  only  "  to 
win  time."  Before  Hamilton  had  gone  to  Scotland,  and  while 
he  had  been  there,  every  possible  preparation  had  been  thought 
of  that  might  enable  the  King  to  break  oft'  negotiation  and 
resort  to  a  stronger  policy.  Orders  had  gone  out  respecting 
th'-  mustering  of  the  trained  bands  in  the  English  counties, 
respecting  the  strengthening  of  the  northern  English  towns, 
respecting  the  equipment  of  Admiral  Penniugton's  fleet  for 
service  on  the  East  Coast,  and  respecting  the  collection  of 
ship-money.  In  the  King's  state  of  destitution  he  had  even 
grasped  at  a  mode  of  perplexing  the  Scots  the  most  sly 
and  desperate  imaginable.  There  was  then  in  Ireland,  or 
going  and  coming  between  England  and  Ireland,  a  cer- 
tain Randal  MacDonnell,  Earl  of  Antrim,  an  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  peer  of  broken  fortunes,  "  notorious  for  nothing," 
according  to  Clarendon's  character  of  him,  "  but  for  having 
married  the  dowager  of  the  great  Duke  of  Buckingham  within 
a  few  years  after  the  death  of  that  favourite."1  He  was 
notorious,  however,  in  Scotland  on  another  account.  He  had 
a  hereditary  quarrel  with  the  Campbells  of  Argyle,  and  was 
regarded  as  the  chief  and  patron  of  those  lawless  tribes  of  the 
Clandonald,  "  Children  of  the  Mist,"  who  hovered  between 
I  it-land  and  the  Scottish  Highlands  in  dread  of  the  Earl  of 
le's  police  and  his  dungeon  and  gibbet  at  Inveraray.  To 
this  Irish  Earl  the  King  actually  granted  a  secret  commission 
to  raise  a  force  of  Irishry  with  which  to  invade  Argyleshire, 
ostensibly  on  his  own  private  account,  and  to  regain  for  his 
IfaoDonnells  and  Macdonalds  the  lands  in  those  parts  which 
they  flainn-d  as  originally  theirs,  but  with  tin  indemnity  for 
whatever  he  might  do  in  that  behalf.  And  yet,  with  all  these 

i  Clar.  Hut.  p.  633. 


24  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

preparations,  no  such  progress  had  been  made  as  that  the 
negotiations  with  the  Scots  could  be  broken  off.  So  far  was 
there  from  being  any  concealment  now  of  the  "  Scottish 
business"  from  the  English  Council  that  a  Committee  of  the 
Council  had  been  appointed  expressly  for  Scottish  affairs.  It 
consisted  of  the  Earl  of  Arundel  and  Surrey,  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  Lord  Cottington,  Sir  Henry  Vane,  and  the 
two  Secretaries,  Coke  and  Windebank.  Hear  how  one  mem- 
ber of  this  committee,  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  writes 
to  his  friend  Went  worth  at  Dublin  on  the  23rd  of  July,  or 
after  Hamilton  had  been  back  from  Scotland  about  a  fort- 
night :  "  It  was  expected  that  yesterday  at  Theobalds  [a 
royal  country-seat  in  Herts,  about  twelve  miles  from  London] 
"  the  King  would  take  his  resolution  of  peace  or  war  with 
"  the  Scots.  Of  the  committee  for  these  affairs,  the  Marshal 
"  [Arundel],  Cottington,  and  Windebank  are  all  earnest  to 
"  put  the  King  upon  a  war.  .  .  .  The  Comptroller  [Vane]  is 
"  for  peace,  and  Secretary  Coke  rather  inclines  that  way  than 
"  the  other.  .  .  .  Nothing  that  I  have  yet  heard  doth  per- 
"  suade  me  to  be  of  the  Marshal's  opinion.  In  the  Exchequer 
"  (being  examined  upon  the  occasion)  there  is  found  but 
"  £200  ;  nor,  by  all  the  means  that  can  yet  be  devised, 
"  the  Treasurer  [Bishop  Juxon]  and  Cottington,  engaging 
"  both  the  King's  and  their  own  credits,  are  able  to  raise  but 
"  £110,000  towards  the  maintaining  of  the  war.  The  King's 
"  magazines  are  totally  unfurnished  of  arms  and  all  sorts  of 
"  ammunition ;  and  commanders  we  have  none,  either  for 
"  advice  or  execution.  The  people  through  all  England  are 
"  generally  so  discontented,  by  reason  of  the  multitude  of 
"  projects  daily  imposed  upon  them,  as  I  think  there  is  reason 
"  to  fear  that  a  great  part  of  them  will  be  readier  to  join  the 
"  Scots  than  to  draw  their  swords  in  the  King's  service.  And 
"  your  Lordship  knows  very  well  how  ignorant  this  long 
"  peace  hath  made  our  men  in  the  use  of  arms."  These  words 
of  Northumberland  at  the  moment,  it  will  be  observed, 
hardly  accord  with  Clarendon's  subsequent  fancy  picture. 
The  iron-handed  Irish  Viceroy,  to  whom  the  words  were  ad- 
dressed, had  formed  an  opinion  of  his  own  on  the  subject. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  25 

That  "  the  gallant  ( ;«>spellers  "  of  Scots  ought  to  be  chastised 
and  subdued  he  had  n<»  duiiht.  Hut,  as  to  the  policy  to  be 
pursued,  la-  would  take  a  middle  course  between  the  war- 
party  and  the  peace-party  in  the  English  committee.  On  the 
one  huml,  In-  would  make  n<>  farther  concessions  to  the  Scots 
than  in  the  Kind's  recent  Declaration ;  he  would  grant  them 
no  Parliament.  On  the  other  hand,  he  would  not,  with 
Arundel,  plunge  into  immediate  war.  He  would  wait  over 
winter,  pressing  on  all  kinds  of  preparations;  and,  in  the 
spring,  if  the  Scots  had  not  come  to  their  senses,  he  would 
seize  Leith,  and  commence  a  series  of  operations  which  should 
not  end,  he  says,  till  the  Scots  "  had  received  our  Common 
"  Prayer  Book,  used  in  the  churches  of  England,  without 
"  any  alteration,  and  the  Bishops  settled  peaceably  in  their 
"  jurisdictions ;  nay,  perchance,  till  I  had  conformed  that 
"  kingdom  all  in  all,  as  well  for  the  temporal  as  ecclesiastical 
"  affairs,  wholly  to  the  government  and  laws  of  England, 
"  and  Scotland  governed  by  the  King  and  Council  of  England, 
"  in  a  great  part  at  least,  as  we  are  here  "  (i.e.  in  Ireland). 
Whatever  Wentworth  says  or  writes  has  the  merit,  at  least, 
of  being  emphatic.1 

The  more  peaceful  counsels  of  Northumberland  having  pre- 
vailed, though  with  a  reserve  in  the  King's  mind  of  plans  not 
unlike  Wentworth's,  it  was  resolved  that  Hamilton  should 
return  to  Scotland.2  By  a  new  set  of  instructions,  dated 
"  London  July  27,"  he  was  empowered  to  resume  his  negotia- 
tions on  an  advance  of  terms.  He  was  to  yield  the  Scots 
their  General  Assembly,  only  staving  it  off  to  as  late  a  period 
of  the  year  as  possible,  and  employing  himself  on  what  was 
willed  its  "  prelimitation," — that  is,  on  such  arrangements 
and  bargainings  with  the  Covenanters  beforehand  as  might 
make  the  Assembly,  when  it  did  meet,  as  innocuous  as  possible. 

1  See  the  letters  quoted  in  this  para-  strongly  in  favour  of  peace,  is  quoted 

pmphinthe  Thelast  by  Stevenson  (214— 216)  and  other  his- 

in  reply  to  NorthuinKerl.md,  is  torinns.     Such  a  speech  w.i>  in  riivuln- 

teJulvSO.  ti.-n  in  Lun, 1,, n  ;  J.ut,  as  a  MS.  co|-\  »f 

-  S..IMU  shore  in  disposing  the  King  it  which  I  have  soon  in  th«  St.it.   Ptotc 

•  -fill    imtliods  has   boon   attri-  Office,  of  date  July  If-,  is  , -ml. .rued  by 

buted  to  the  yomur  Duk.-  ..f  LI-MM..X.  a  Windi-K-mk  "  DofLtOOl  :  hi- supposed 

speech  of  whom  at  the  Council -Board.  spoeche,"  I  infer  that  it  wsi*  m>t  ^  -miinc. 


26  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

It  was  to  be  prearranged,  if  possible,  that  the  Bishops  should 
sit  in  it,  that  a  Bishop  should  be  its  Moderator  or  President, 
and  that  the  debates  should  not  run  in  very  deep  channels. 
Still,  even  if  there  should  be  little  or  no  success  in  these 
efforts  at  "  prelimitation,"  the  Assembly  was  to  be  considered 
as  granted.  There  might  also  be  promised  a  Parliament,  to 
meet  soon  after  the  Assembly.  In  short,  "  you  are,"  said  the 
instructions,  "  by  no  means  to  permit  a  present  rupture  to 
"  happen,  but  to  yield  anything,  though  unreasonable,  rather 
"  than  now  break."  On  that  point,  of  the  surrender  of  the 
Covenant,  which  had  been  ostensibly  the  reason  of  the 
Marquis's  return  to  Court,  there  was  a  special  device  by 
which,  it  was  hoped,  difficulties  would  be  obviated. 

Thus  reinstructed,  the  Marquis  was  back  in  Edinburgh  on 
the  10th  of  August.  During  his  absence  there  had  been 
much  preaching  and  praying  all  over  Scotland  to  keep  men's 
minds  up  to  the  mark  of  the  emergency.  Advantage  of  the 
brief  leisure  had  also  been  taken  to  look  after  those  parts  of 
the  country  where  the  Covenant  was  weakest,  or  where  on 
other  grounds  there  was  danger. 

During  a  great  part  of  the  month  of  July,  Lome,  I  find, 
was  away  on  very  distinct  business  in  his  Argyleshire 
domain.  It  was  the  season  when  that  romantic  region  of 
Scotland,  now  so  well  known  to  tourists,  reclothes  its  wintry 
wildness  with  the  annual  return  of  beauty,  and  the  ex- 
panses of  sea  and  promontory,  of  island  and  channel,  of 
winding  loch  and  heathy  mountain,  are  as  often  under  the 
sunshine  and  the  clear  blue  as  enwrapped  in  the  grey  mist. 
Argyleshire  nature  was  the  same  then  as  now  ;  but  man  how 
different !  Not  in  the  spirit  of  a  modern  admirer  of  the  pic- 
turesque was  the  lord  of  that  region  then  surveying  its  various 
scenery,  traversing  its  mountain-passes,  sailing  in  his  galleys 
down  Loch  Fyne,  or  skirting  the  long  peninsula  of  Cantire, 
whence  the  gaze  seeks  the  coast  of  Ireland.  "  My  dewetie 
"  to  his  sacred  Majestie,"  we  find  him  writing  to  Wentworth, 
as  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  on  the  25th  of  July,  "  tyes  me  to  late 
"  your  lordship  know  that  there  is  zitt  some  few  resting  in 
"  thir  pairtes  of  the  rebellious  race  of  Clandonald,  who  hes 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  27 

"  evir"  &c.  In  short,  the  astute  Lome  had  obtained  intelli- 
gence of  Antrim's  intended  expedition;  he  was  now  taking 
his  precautions  ;  and  one  of  these  was  the  opening  of  a  cor- 
respondence with  Wentworth  with  a  view  to  clearer  infor- 
mation. The  correspondence  was  continued  through  several 
Inters  till  the  end  ut'  the  year.  In  Wentworth's  reply  to 
Lome's  first  letter  there  is  great  evident  respect ;  but  he  takes 
tin-  liberty  of  hinting  that  Lome's  conduct  in  such  a  crisis 
was  not  quite  what  was  to  be  expected  from  a  person  of  his 
lordship's  "  blood  and  abilities,"  of  whom  the  world  had  "  so 
great  an  opinion."  Lome  again  answers,  with  equal  polite- 
ness, in  more  civilized  spelling  than  in  his  first  letter,  and 
with  an  irony  and  at  the  same  time  a  strength  of  reasoning 
which  must  have  made  even  Wentworth  wince.1 

But  it  was  not  only  against  the  wild  race  of  Clandonald, 
Children  of  the  Mist,  that  precautions  for  the  Covenant  had 
been  taken  within  Scotland.  Quite  on  the  opposite  coast, 
and  among  a  race  as  little  Celtic  in  their  temperament  or 
ways  as  it  would  have  been  possible  to  find  in  the  island, 
there  was  a  block  of  opposition.  At  that  point  of  the  Scottish 
east  coast,  nearer  to  Norway  than  to  London,  where  the 
gloomy  Don  and  the  sprightly  Dee  join  their  differing  waters 
in  the  ocean,  stands  the  town  of  Aberdeen.  Partly  from 
native  tendencies,  partly  from  the  influence  exercised  by  the 
"  Aberdeen  Doctors,"  this  town  was  the  fastness  of  Prelacy 
in  Scotland.  There  were  Covenanters  in  it;  but  hitherto 
the  tide  of  Evangelicism,  as  understood  by  the  rest  of  the 
nation,  had  dashed  vainly  in  the  main  round  the  city. 
Accordingly,  while  Lome  had  been  away  looking  after  the 
children  of  the  mist,  a  deputation  from  the  Tables,  including 
the  Earl  of  Montrose,  Henderson,  Dickson,  and  Cant,  had 
been  commissioned  to  visit  Aberdeen  and  try  what  could  be 
done  with  its  children  of  the  granite.  Never  were  Henderson, 
Dickson,  and  Cant  more  hard  beset  in  their  capacity  of 
ers  than  in  this  visit  to  Aberdeen  (July  20—28).  Their 
preachings  to  the  students  in  the  yard  of  Marischal  College, 

i  The  following  i«  the  series  of  the       text) ;  2.  Wont  worth  to  Lome,  Aug.  28; 
letters  in  th-  :  1.  Lorno       3.  Lome  to  Wentworth,  Oct.  9.     The 

to  Wentworth,  July  25,  1638  (iw  in  the       letters  arc  worth  reading. 


28  LIFE  OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

and  to  the  townspeople  elsewhere,  in  behalf  of  the  Covenant, 
brought  out  the  Aberdeen  Doctors  —  Dr.  John  Forbes,  Dr. 
Eobert  Barren,  Dr.  William  Leslie,  Dr.  James  Sibbald,  and 
Dr.  Alexander  Eoss  —  to  the  defence  of  their  flocks  and  their 
principles.  Not  content  with  their  spoken  arguments,  the 
Aberdeen  Doctors  had  set  the  local  press  to  work  ;  and,  after 
the  Covenanting  deputies  had  left  the  town,  they  were  pur- 
sued with  printed  Eeplies  and  Duplies,  which  it  tasked  their 
subsequent  industry  to  answer.  These  pamphlets  in  defence 
of  Prelacy  from  Aberdeen  found  their  way  at  once  into 
England.1 

Both  Lome  and  the  Aberdeen  Deputation  were  back  in 
Edinburgh  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  new  negotiation  with 
Hamilton.  It  lasted  but  a  fortnight,  or  from  August  10  to 
August  25.  We  have  said  that,  in  the  matter  of  the 
Covenant,  Hamilton  had  been  provided  with  an  ingenious 
contrivance  which,  it  was  supposed,  would  answer  the  pur- 
pose. It  was  a  kind  of  homoeopathic  remedy,  and  seems  to 
have  been  suggested  by  Hamilton  himself.  If  the  Scots 
would  have  a  Covenant,  might  they  not  have  a  Covenant 
somewhat  like  their  own,  but  of  a  quieter  nature,  and  ap- 
proved by  the  King,  —  nay,  signed  by  him  along  with  them  ? 
Their  own  Covenant  consisted  of  a  revival  of  a  document 
known  as  the  "  Short  Confession  of  Faith,  or  First  National 
Covenant,  of  1580,"  with  certain  subsequent  additions  and 
an  attached  "  bond  "  or  oath  adapted  to  the  immediate 
exigency.  But  out  of  the  old  documents  of  the  Scottish 
Kirk  might  not  a  Covenant  be  devised  less  fierce  in  expres- 
sion and  yet  sufficiently  orthodox  and  Knox-like,  and  might 
not  a  "  bond  "  of  a  loyal  nature  be  attached  to  this  Covenant  ? 

1  Baillie,  I.  97;  and  the  Pamphlets  (pp.  37).      2.   "The  Answers  of  some 

themselves   as   follows:  —  1.    "General  Brethren   of  the  Ministrie  to  the  Re- 

Demands  concerning  the  late  Covenant,  plyes  of  the  members  and  Professors  of 

propounded  by  the  members  and  Pro-  Divinitie  in  Aberdene   concerning  the 

fessors    of    Divinity    in    Aberdene    to  late  Covenant:  Printed  by  R.  Y.,  his 

some   Reverend    Brethren   who    came  maj.  Printer  for  Scotland,  1638"  (pp. 

thither  to  recommend  the  late  Covenant  42,  and  signed  by  Henderson  and  Dick- 

to  them  ;  together  with  the  Answers  of  son).    3.  "Duplies  of  the  members  and 

these  Rev.  Brethren  to  the  said  De-  Professors  of  Aberdene  to  the  second 

mands  ;    As  also  the  Replyes  of  the  Answers  of  some  Reverend  Brethren, 
Profes 


foresaid   members    and    Professors  to       &c.     1638  "     (pp.     133).  —  All     these 
their   Answers  :   Printed   by   His   Ma-       pamphlets  were  r 
jestie's  Printer  for  Scotland,  anno  1638  "       Aberdeen  in  1662. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  29 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  describe  the  plan  more  minutely, 
for  the  Marquis  seems  to  have  found  it  hopeless  and  to  have 
quietly  dropped  it.  He  devoted  all  his  strength  to  the 
"  prelimitation  "  of  the  promised  Assembly,  and  this  more 
especially  on  two  points.  He  was  anxious,  first,  that  the 
Assembly  should  be  in  the  main  a  clerically  composed  body, 
in  the  election  of  the  members  of  which  laymen  should  have 
no  voice;  and,  secondly,  that  the  scope  of  its  deliberations 
should  be  restricted  beforehand.  On  the  first  of  these  points 
he  seemed  likely  at  first  to  have  some  success  ;  for  the  Table 
of  Ministers  (such  is  clerical  human  nature)  were  rather  taken 
with  the  idea  of  an  Assembly  elected  solely  by  themselves. 
Even  they,  however,  were  far  from  being  agreed  on  the  point ; 
and,  the  Tables  of  the  Nobles,  Lairds,  and  Burgesses  being 
unanimous  for  the  electoral  rights  of  laymen,  the  matter  was 
settled,  and  a  treatise  was  put  forth  clearing  up,  definitively 
for  the  future,  the  whole  question  of  the  place  and  power  of 
lay-elders  in  the  Presbyterian  system.  On  the  other  point 
also  Hamilton  found  the  Tables  resolute.  They  would  have 
no  "  prelimitation  "  of  the  business  of  the  Assembly  ;  and,  if 
they  could  not  have  a  full  and  free  Assembly  by  his  Majesty's 
authority,  they  would  call  one  without  that  authority.  To 
the  Marquis's  alarm,  this  matter  of  an  Assembly  by  popular 
authority  alone  began  to  be  boldly  discussed  both  in  conference 
and  in  print.  There  was  one  incident  which  contributed  to 
this  boldness  and  to  the  difficulties  of  the  Marquis  in  dealing 
with  the  Covenanters.  The  Marquis  of  Huntley's  son,  Lord 
Gordon,  had  arrived  from  Court  (August  13)  with  letters  from 
the  King  to  the  Magistrates  and  Doctors  of  Aberdeen,  thank- 
ing them  and  the  town  for  the  loyal  stand  they  had  just  made 
against  the  Covenant ;  and  it  was  quickly  known  that  Hamil- 
ton had  backed  these  letters  with  others  from  himself  to  the 
same  effect,  and  with  a  remittance  to  Dr.  Barron  of  £100  to 
keep  the  press  going  with  Aberdeen  pamphlets.  Suspicion 
of  the  Marquis's  good  faith  was  the  natural  result;  and,  whrii, 
that  h<  had  again  reached  the  limit  of  his  instruc- 
tions, he  proposed  once  more  to  return  to  Court  to  have  them 
<-nlarged,it  was  rather  sternly  that  the  Covenanters  consign  in  I 


30  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

to  the  new  delay.     Let  him  go,  but  let  it  not  be  for  more 
than  twenty  days  ! l 

The  second  return  of  the  Marquis  to  Court  was  still  only 
"  to  win  time."  The  same  reasons  against  a  rupture  with  the 
Scots  that  had  led  to  the  negotiation  at  first,  and  to  its  re- 
newal after  the  first  interruption,  required  that  it  should  be 
renewed  again  at  any  hazard.  Almost  punctually,  there- 
fore, within  the  twenty  days  (Sept.  15)  the  Marquis  was  back 
in  Edinburgh,  and  this  time,  it  was  announced,  with  all  the 
requisite  power.  Indeed,  the  news  of  the  great  concessions 
which  he  was  now  authorized  to  grant  had  preceded  him  into 
Scotland,  greatly  to  the  joy  of  the  Covenanters,  but  so  much 
to  the  chagrin  of  the  Scottish  Prelates  that,  considering  their 
cause  abandoned  by  the  King,  and  unwilling  to  await  the 
vengeance  likely  to  be  executed  upon  them  by  the  forth- 
coming Assembly,  most  of  them  had  packed  up  their  all, 
and  were  met  by  the  Marquis  in  Yorkshire  on  their  way  to 
exile  in  English  towns.  It  was  easier  for  the  Marquis,  in  a 
country  almost  wholly  Presbyterian  again  by  this  flight  of  the 
Bishops,  to  proceed  according  to  his  new  instructions.  They 
were  dated  "Oatlands  Sept.  9,"  and  authorized  him  abso- 
lutely to  revoke  the  Service-Book,  the  Canons,  and  the  High 
Commission,  to  discontinue  the  Articles  of  Perth  and  promise 
the  royal  assent  to  their  total  repeal  by  Parliament,  to  call  a 
General  Assembly  speedily  at  any  place  except  Edinburgh, 
and  to  fix  a  day  for  the  meeting  of  a  Parliament  after  the 
Assembly.  These  concessions  were,  of  course,  accompanied 
with  drawbacks,  but  nothing  so  stringent  as  before.  As 
regarded  the  "  prelimitation  "  of  the  Assembly,  the  Marquis 
was  to  yield  to  the  Covenanters  so  far  as  to  give  his  Majesty's 
sanction  to  proceedings  in  the  Assembly  having  for  their  end 
a  reform  and  restriction  of  Episcopacy  in  Scotland,  and  also 
to  the  trial  of  the  Bishops  and  others  by  the  Assembly  as 
ecclesiastical  delinquents.  He  was  still  to  try  to  keep  the 
lay  element  as  much  as  possible  out  of  the  Assembly,  but 
this  rather  by  private  management  and  by  infusing  into  the 
minds  of  the  clergy  "  a  jealousy  of  being  overruled  by  laics." 

1  Rushworth,  II.  763,  764 ;  Spalding,  I.  98—100 ;  and  Baillie,  I.  100,  101. 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  31 

Iii  this  matter  of  the  "  prelimitation,"  therefore,  the  chief 
stumbling-blocks  had  been  removed.  But  there  was  a  re- 
maining stumbling-block.  Charles  could  not  forget  the  exist- 
ence of  the  "  damnable  Covenant " ;  and  the  Marquis,  greatly 
against  his  own  will  this  time,  was  instructed  to  mingle  with 
all  the  new  concessions,  and  all  his  activity  in  connexion  with 
them,  an  experiment  in  a  new  form  of  that  very  homoeo- 
pathic remedy  which  he  had  himself  suggested.  According 
to  this  new  form  of  the  homoeopathic  remedy, — concocted, 
apparently,  by  Traquair,  Roxburgh,  and  others  of  the  Scottish 
Councillors, — the  Scots  were  to  be  offered,  in  lieu  of  their 
Covenant,  a  document  actually  the  same  to  a  considerable 
extent,  and  differing  only  in  its  closing  portion.  So  far  as 
the  repetition  of  the  "Short  Confession  of  1580  "  was  con- 
cerned, the  new  Covenant  to  be  proposed  to  the  Scots  in  the 
King's  name  was  verbatim  the  same  as  their  own ;  but  the 
rest  of  it  was  to  consist  of  a  renewal  of  a  particular  Bond  or 
Covenant  against  Papists  which  had  been  annexed  to  the 
Short  Confession  in  special  circumstances  by  King  James 
and  his  Council  in  1590*  Let  us  see  what  were  some  of  the 
items  in  this  proposed  compound  document.  The  Short 
Confession  of  1580  is  a  vow  of  abhorrence  of  "all  kind 
of  Papistry  in  general  and  particular  heads  "  ;  among  which 
heads  are  enumerated  the  following  errors  and  usurpations  of 
the  Pope :  "  his  canonization  of  men,  calling  upon  angels  or 
"  saints  departed,  worshipping  of  imagery,  relics,  and  crosses, 
"  dedicating  of  kirks,  altars  and  days."  as  well  as  "  his  holy 
"  water,  baptizing  of  bells,  conjuring  of  spirits,  crossing,  sain- 
"  ing,  anointing,  hallowing  of  God's  creatures."  In  the  Bond 
of  15 90,  annexed  to  this  Confession  in  the  King's  Covenant, 
there  was  less  of  this  kind  of  language,  and  one  can  see  why 
the  King  should  prefer  it  to  the  Bond  in  the  real  Covenant, 
which  was  a  solemn  league  of  mutual  defence  against  tin 
"  innovations  "  that  had  been  enforced  in  his  own  reign  and 
by  himself.  But,  though  preferable  on  this  account,  it  was 
st  i  <  .11^  enough  in  itself.  It  was  an  oath  to  assemble  in  arms, 
when  required  by  the  King,  "against  whatsoever  foreign  or 
"  intestine  powers,  or  Papists  and  their  partakers,  should  arrive 


32  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  or  rise  within  this  island  or  any  part  thereof,"  and  also,  under 
the  same  authority,  to  put  the  laws  in  force  against  "  all 
Jesuits  and  seminary  or  mass  priests."  To  what  straits  must 
the  husband  of  Henrietta  Maria,  and  the  ecclesiastical  disciple 
of  Laud,  have  been  driven  when  he  was  induced  to  sanction 
such  a  document  as  this  joint  Confession  of  1580  and  Bond 
of  1590  I1 

Great  was  the  popular  rejoicing  when,  on  Thursday  the 
22nd  of  September,  the  full  tenor  of  his  Majesty's  concessions 
was  made  known  in  several  definite  proclamations  by  the 
royal  heralds  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh.  One  proclamation 
was  of  a  general  or  declaratory  nature,  absolutely  revoking 
the  Service-Book,  the  Canons,  and  the  High  Commission, 
suspending  the  Perth  Articles,  and  promising  their  repeal  and 
a  limitation  of  Episcopacy.  Two  others  were  special :  one  a 
summons  for  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  to  be  held  at 
Glasgow  (not  at  Aberdeen,  as  had  been  feared)  on  the  21st  of 
November ;  and  another  for  a  Parliament  to  meet  in  Edin- 
burgh on  the  ensuing  15th  of  May.  What  could  heart  wish 
for  more  ?  Alas  !  there  was  one  vitiating  accompaniment  of 
all  this  joy.  "  Only  one  thing  frays  us,"  writes  Baillie, — "  the 
subscription  of  ane  other  covenant."  *  Before  issuing  the 
happy  proclamations,  the  Marquis,  in  accordance  with  his 
instructions,  had  brought  the  matter  of  the  new  Covenant 
before  the  Council  and  some  of  the  Covenanting  chiefs.  To 
these  latter  it  caused  perplexity.  To  the  document  in  itself 
there  was  no  objection ;  it  was  a  very  excellent  document, 
such  as  they  would  have  been  glad  to  sign  then  or  at  any 
time ;  but,  considered  as  a  document  which  they  were  to 
accept  from  the  King  to  the  cancelling  and  renunciation  of 
their  own  Covenant  so  solemnly  sworn  to,  or  even  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  that  Covenant,  it  assumed  a  very  different  com- 
plexion. Even  the  Lords  of  the  Council  felt  this  peculiarity 
of  the  case  ;  and,  though  all  of  them  who  were  present,  to  the 
number  of  twenty-nine,  complied  with  the  Marquis's  request 

1  Rushworth,   II.    759 — 761    (second  venson's  Introd.  to  his  History,  under 

paging) ;  and  Stevenson,  252,  253.    The  the  year  1590. 

whole  of  the  Bond  of  1590  may  be  read  2  Baillie,  I.  104. 
in  Rushworth,  II.  778—780,  or  in  Ste- 


1638-39.]  MARQUIS  OF  HAMILTON'S  MISSION.  33 

that  they  would  sign  the  document  along  with  him,  they  did 
so  only  with  an  important  explanation,  insisted  on  by  Lome. 
that  tin-  ( ..'mi  Cession  of  1580,  as  part  of  the  document,  was  to 
be  understood  in  the  sense  in  which  it  had  been  originally 
drawn  up,  and  as  not  implying  approbation  of  any  changes  in 
tin  doctrine  or  discipline  of  the  Kirk  that  had  been  intro- 
duced after  that  date.  For  those  who,  like  Lome,  had  not 
signed  the  other  Covenant,  this  might  be  satisfactory :  they 
were  free  from  any  former  oath,  and  could  take  the  King's 
with  pleasure.  But  for  the  Covenanters  themselves  the  case 
was  different.  The  inducements  to  compliance  were  strong 
and  obvious.  Not  the  least  was  the  sense  of  the  prejudice 
that  would  be  sure  to  arise  against  their  cause  in  indifferent 
or  even  friendly  quarters  if  they  seemed  to  stand  stubbornly 
on  a  mere  form  of  words,  when  the  substance  was  yielded. 
Still,  the  more  they  thought  of  the  matter,  the  less  could 
they  comply.  Very  soon  their  minds  were  made  up.  On 
the  24th  of  September,  or  two  days  after  the  proclamations 
summoning  an  Assembly  and  a  Parliament,  there  was  a  fur- 
ther proclamation  at  the  Cross,  by  the  Marquis's  order,  of 
Acts  of  Council  commanding  all  His  Majesty's  Scottish  sub- 
jects of  whatever  degree  to  subscribe  the  King's  Covenant  in 
the  sense  in  which  it  had  just  been  subscribed  by  the  Council, 
and  empowering  commissioners  to  go  into  all  the  shires  and 
collect  the  subscriptions  before  the  13th  of  November.  No 
sooner  w?is  this  proclamation  made  than  Johnstone  of  War- 
ns toil  stood  forth,  in  the  name  of  the  Tables,  and  read  a 
Protest  which  had  been  drawn  up  for  the  purpose.  It  was  a 
long  document,  but  is,  I  think,  both  in  spirit  and  in  ex- 
ion,  one  of  the  finest  to  be  found  among  the  uncouth 
Scottish  records  of  that  period.  I  can  hardly  be  wrong  in 
attributing  it  to  Henderson.  Was  the  former  oath  of  a  whole 
nation,  it  asked,  to  go  for  nothing  ?  Were  men,  serious  men, 
to  "multiply  oaths  and  covenants,"  or  to  "play  with  oaths 
as  children  do  with  their  toys  ?  "  In  so  far  as  the  Covenant 
aln-ady  -worn  to  exceeded  that  now  proposed,  would  there  not 
be  perjury  in  the  substitution  ?  "  What  the  use  is  of  man  h 
"  stones  14x111  bord.-rs  of  land,"  it  said,  "the  likr  use  have 
:  IF  i' 


34  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF   HIS   TIME. 

"  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  Kirk,  to  determine  betwixt 
"  truth  and  error ;  and  the  renewing  and  applying  of  Con- 
"  fessions  of  Faith  to  the  present  errors  and  corruptions  are 
"  not  unlike  riding  of  marches ;  and,  therefore,  to  content 
"  ourselves  with  the  general,  and  to  return  to  it  from  the 
"  particular,  application  of  the  Confession  necessarily  made 
"  upon  the  invasion  or  creeping  in  of  errors  within  the 
"  borders  of  the  Kirk,  if  it  be  not  a  removing  of  the  march- 
"  stone  from  its  own  place,  it  is  at  least  the  hiding  of  the 
"  march  in  the  ground  that  it  be  not  seen."  l 

And  now,  over  the  whole  country,  for  about  two  months, 
there  was  a  struggle  of  the  two  Covenants.  It  was  not  the 
question  now  whether  one  was  a  Covenanter  or  Non-Cove- 
nanter, but  whether  one  would  remain  a  Covenanter  proper 
or  be  a  King's  Covenanter.  As  eager  as  the  Covenanters 
had  been  six  months  before  for  the  subscription  of  their 
Covenant,  so  eager  were  the  Marquis  and  his  official  adherents 
now  for  the  subscription  of  the  rival  Covenant  in  all  parishes 
and  places.  Every  influence  was  used  with  town-councils 
and  presbyteries.  For  a  time  there  seemed  a  chance  of  suc- 
cess. There  were  groups  of  Covenanters  here  and  there  who 
could  not  see  the  harm  of  accepting  a  Covenant  so  like  their 
own,  if  the  compliance  would  bring  peace.  Gradually,  how- 
ever, the  counter-arguments  of  the  Tables  in  their  paper  of 
Protest  told  on  these  waverers.  Nay,  the  success  of  the  King's 
Covenant  in  one  locality  brought  it  into  discredit  with  the 
rest  of  the  nation.  It  was  on  the  4th  of  October  that  the 
Marquis  of  Huntley,  accompanied  by  his  two  sons,  Lords 
Gordon  and  Aboyne,  and  by  some  Aberdeenshire  and  Banff- 
shire  lairds,  made  a  grand  demonstration  with  drum  and 
trumpet  for  the  King's  Covenant  in  the  market-square  of 
Aberdeen,  requiring  the  citizens  to  subscribe  it.  The  Aber- 
deen Doctors  led  the  way  with  their  signatures  ;  but  they  did 
so  with  certain  characteristic  explanations,  to  the  effect  that, 
in  so  doing,  they  were  not  to  be  considered  as  condemning 
Episcopal  Government,  or  the  Articles  of  Perth,  or  as  com- 

1  See  the  entire  Protestation  in   Stevenson,   256  —  264,  and  a  portion  of  it 
in  Kushworth,  II.  772,  773. 


1038-39.]  MARQUIS   <>!     HAMILTON'S   MISSION. 

mittim:  themselves  to  the  immutability  of  the  Presbyterian 
model  as  it  had  existed  in  1580.  With  this  interpretation  of 
the  King's  Covenant,  which  in  fact  converted  the  signing  of 
it  into  a  demonstration  in  behalf  of  Prelacy,  the  bulk  of  the 
Aliridonians  acquiesced.  Their  acquiescence  was  ruinous. 
Here  was  that  document,  wliich  the  Privy  Councillors  them- 
selves had  signed  carefully  with  one  interpretation,  signed  by 
the  Aberdonians  —  and  their  conduct  "  well  likit  "  of  the 
King  too  —  in  a  sense  totally  different  !  Even  the  willing 
were  taught  to  beware.  On  the  1st  of  November,  when  the 
Court  of  Session  met  in  Edinburgh  after  the  vacation,  the 
Marquis  could  induce  only  nine  of  the  thirteen  judges  to 
sign  the  new  Covenant;  and  by  the  13th,  which  had  been 
the  day  fixed  for  the  final  return  of  the  subscriptions,  it  was 
clear  that,  save  among  the  official  portions  of  society  and  in 
the  head-quarters  of  Scottish  Prelacy,  the  new  Covenant  was 
a  failure.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  Were  the  King's  pro- 
mises of  uu  Assembly  and  a  Parliament  to  be  retracted  ? 
Balcanqulwl,  in  a  private  correspondence  he  was  carrying  on 
with  Laud,  advised  something  of  the  kind.  The  Marquis 
himself  wrote  to  the  King  that  there  ought  to  be  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  military  and  naval  preparations.  Still,  on  the 
whole,  it  was  thought  best  to  let  things  drift  on  to  the 
Assembly  according  to  promise.  Whatever  the  Assembly 
did  could  be  disowned  when  convenient,  and  meanwhile  all 
sorts  of  legal  obstructions  might  be  accumulated  to  impede 
the  Assembly  when  it  did  meet,  and  to  furnish  reasons  to  the 
Kinx  for  declaring  its  proceedings  invalid.  For  example,  an 
A.-t  n|  ill,  Scottish  Council  was  to  be  obtained  debarring 
tli»  Assembly,  in  the  King's  name,  from  the  question  of  the 
abolition  of  Episcopacy,  and  the  Marquis  was  to  refuse  his 
nit  for  any  summons  of  the  Bishops  and  other  accused 
ecclesiastics  l>et«»re  the  Assembly  in  tin-  eharaeter  of  delin- 
quents.1 

Aware  of  all  these  predeterminations  against  the  Assembly. 
but  resolved  t<>  make  the  best  of  it,  the  (  'n\  maulers  had  been 


•liworth,    II.   7SI     7*7:  I.  HI  :  l..-tt«-r 

•on,  265  ft  *•//.;  Bnillir,  I.   10  1.  ,i  »v.:       jtl  A|-iH-n.li.\  t«-  K-iilli.-.  I.   I"  7. 


36  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

for  weeks  busy  with  all  the  items  of  preparation  for  a  national 
convention  so  important  and  so  long  disused.  Since  the 
month  of  August  letters  of  direction  had  been  out  from  the 
Tables  in  Edinburgh  to  all  the  fifty-three  Presbyteries,  and 
even  to  all  the  Kirk-Sessions,  of  the  land,  giving  minute  in- 
structions as  to  the  proper  forms  of  procedure  in  the  election 
of  representatives.  The  Burghs  had  been  reminded  of  the 
ancient  practice  in  the  election  of  the  commissioners  to  be 
sent  by  them.  Various  doubtful  points  as  to  lay-elders,  &c., 
had  been  cleared  up  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  curious.  Trusty 
members  of  the  several  Presbyteries  had  been  communicated 
with  more  privately ;  and  all  had  been  advised  to  study  as 
thoroughly  as  possible  the  questions  that  were  likely  to  come 
mainly  into  dispute  in  the  Assembly — De  Episcopatu,  De  Seni- 
oribus.De  potestate  magistrates  in  rebus  ecclesiasticis,De  Liturgid 
Anglicand,  (fee.  But  how  to  bring  the  Bishops  and  other 
ecclesiastical  culprits  before  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  ?  To 
this  end  there  was  prepared  a  general  form  of  complaint  or 
"  libel  "  against  the  Bishops,  in  the  names  of  1 2  noblemen, 
32  barons  or  lairds,  5  ministers,  and  6  burgesses,  acting  for 
the  whole  body  of  the  Covenanters ;  which  "  libel, "  with 
special  charges  of  immorality,  &c.,  against  some  of  the 
Bishops,  was  transmitted  to  the  Presbyteries  within  whose 
bounds  lay  the  cathedral-seats  or  residences  of  the  Bishops, 
in  order  that  either  these  Presbyteries  might  judge  the  ac- 
cused themselves  or  refer  their  trial  to  the  Assembly.  The 
latter  course,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  universally  adopted. 
In  all  these  proceedings  there  was  evidence  not  only  of  the 
zeal  and  courage  of  the  Covenanters,  but  also  of  an  amount 
of  business-talent  to  which  there  was  nothing  comparable  on 
the  King's  side.1 

THE    GLASGOW    ASSEMBLY    OF    1638. 

On  Wednesday  the  21st  of  November  1638  the  long- 
expected  Assembly  met  in  that  High  Church  of  Glasgow 
which  strangers  to  the  city  still  visit  as  one  of  the  best  remain- 

1  Stevenson,  247—252,  and  267-8. 


1638-39.]  1IIK  GLASGOW  ASSEMBLY.  '  37 

ing  specimens  of  the  old  Cathedral-architecture  of  Scotland. 
It  was  an  important  day  for  Scotland,  and  not  so  unimportant 
for  England  as  the  scanty  references  to  it  now  in  English 
histories  might  lead  one  to  imagine.  Glasgow  was  not  then 
the  great  city  it  now  is,  but  only  a  thriving  Scottish  town  of 
some  12,000  souls.  The  bustle  in  the  place  was  proportionate 
to  the  occasion.  All  that  was  influential  in  Scotland  was 
ly  gathered  there.  Besides  the  Marquis  as  Lord  High 
Commissioner,  all  or  nearly  all  the  Privy  Councillors,  and 
the  actual  members  of  the  Assembly,  lay  and  clerical,  to  the 
nuinl)er  of  240,  there  was  a  great  concourse  of  ministers, 
nobles,  and  lairds,  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  some  as 
appointed  "  assessors  "  to  the  members,  and  others  attracted 
by  curiosity.  The  retainers,  many  of  them  armed,  whom  the 
chirf  nobles  had  brought  with  them,  swelled  the  crowd.  In 
vain  the  Marquis  had  sought  to  prevent  so  vast  and  promis- 
cuous a  gathering,  and  to  keep  the  city  free  from  a  larger 
addition  to  its  ordinary  population  than  might  be  made  by 
those  whose  presence  was  absolutely  necessary.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  the  members  could  force  their  way  through  the 
crush  to  their  places  in  the  church.  The  magistrates  had 
made  all  the  arrangements.  On  a  throne,  as  representing  his 
Majesty,  sat  the  Marquis.  Immediately  beneath  and  around 
him  sat  the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council,  to  the  number  of 
thirty,  of  whom  six  had  been  specially  named  by  the  King 
as  "  assessors  "  to  the  Commissioner.  In  front  of  the  Com- 
missioner's throne  was  a  little  table  for  the  Moderator  and 
the  Clerk  of  the  Assembly  when  they  should  be  chosen  ; 
there  was  a  long  table  in  the  middle,  from  end  to  end,  round 
whirh  sat  the  lay-elders  who  were  members  of  the  Assembly, 
or  assessors  to  such;  and  side  seats,  rising  in  tiers,  were 
occupied  by  the  clerical  members  and  their  assessors.  The 
vaults  and  recesses  were  filled  with  spectators  of  both  sexes, 
a  special  place  being  reserved  for  the  young  nobility.  Among 
the  144  clerical  members  returned  by  the  5.">  Presbyteries 
(tin..-  fn nn  most,  but  only  two  from  some)  were  Henderson, 
Dickson,  Uaillie,  Rutherford,  Cant,  and  others  already  known 
to  us,  together  with  such  others,  then  not  inconsiderable,  as 


38  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

Adamson,  Eamsay,  and  Bollock  of  Edinburgh,  Bell  and 
Zachary  Boyd  of  Glasgow,  William  Guild  of  Aberdeen, 
James  Bonar  of  Maybole,  Dalgleish  of  Cupar,  Cunning- 
ham of  Cumnock,  William  Livingstone  of  Lanark,  Ker  of 
Prestonpans,  Row  of  Carnock,  and  Eobert  Blair  and  John 
Livingstone,  both  recently  from  Ireland.  The  lay  members 
were  9  6  in  all  (one  from  most  of  the  Presbyteries,  and  one  at 
least  from  each  of  the  48  Scottish  burghs) ;  among  whom 
were  the  chief  of  the  Scottish  non-official  nobility  and  gentry. 
Yes  !  though  the  Scottish  aristocracy  have  since  then,  almost 
to  a  man,  passed  over  to  the  English  Church,  there  sat  in 
that  most  Presbyterian  of  all  the  Assemblies  of  the  Kirk,  and 
most  of  them  most  intensely  and  patriotically  Presbyterian 
themselves,  the  ancestors  of  most  of  our  present  well-known 
Scottish  families.  Among  the  Earls  were  Eothes,  Lothian, 
Cassilis,  Eglintoun,  Montrose,  Wemyss,  and  Home  ;  among  the 
Lords  were  Cranstoun,  Tester,  Johnston  e,  Loudoun,  Sinclair, 
Balmerino,  Lindsay,  Burleigh,  and  Cupar ;  and  among  the 
lairds  or  lesser  barons  were  Douglas  of  Cavers,  Fergusson  of 
Craigdarroch,Agnew  of  Lochnaw,Baillie  of  Lamington,  Stirling 
of  Keir,  Graham  of  Fintray,  Piamsay  of  Balmain,  Skene  of 
Skene,  Fraser  of  Philorth,  and  Barclay  of  Towie.  Among  the 
ministers  present,  not  as  members,  but  only  as  spectators  and 
assessors,  were  young  George  Gillespie  of  Wemyss,  and  old 
David  Calderwood,  the  long-exiled  but  now  rejoicing  his- 
torian of  the  Kirk.  There  had  been  an  expectation  that  the 
Aberdeen  Doctors  and  their  friends  would  appear  and  show 
fight ;  and  there  had  been  returns  from  some  Presbyteries  of 
men  of  this  stamp.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  policy  of 
the  Anti-Covenanters  had  been  to  keep  away  from  the  As- 
sembly, rather  than  figure  as  a  small  fraction  in  it  and  yet 
countenance  it  by  their  presence.  In  the  main,  then,  the 
Assembly,  though  divisible  into  the  more  eager  and  the  less 
eager  in  opinion,  as  all  assemblies  are,  was  charged  with  one 
spirit.  For  the  difficult  office  of  Moderator  or  President  there 
was  chosen,  by  instinctive  and  unanimous  consent,  Alexander 
Henderson,  "  incomparably  the  ablest  man  of  us  all,"  says 
Baillie,  "  for  all  things."  As  to  who  should  sit  at  the  same 


1638-30.]  I  UK  GLASGOW  ASSKMULY. 

table  with  the  Moderator  as  Clerk  of  the  Assembly  there  was 
no  hesitation  whatever.  Johnstone  of  Warriston  was  the 
very  man,  "  a  nonsuch  for  a  Clerk  to  us  all,"  says  Baillie. 
As  Clerk  he  was  not  a  member  of  Assembly,  but  only  its 
officer.1 

Obstruction  of  the  proceedings  at  every  possible  point 
was  the  policy  of  the  Marquis.  The  first  seven  days  of  the 
Assembly  were,  accordingly,  one  continued  struggle  between 
him  and  the  body  of  the  members.  His  method  was  to 
watch  the  progress  of  the  business,  and,  wherever  he  could 
see  a  controvertible  point,  to  challenge  it  and  raise  a  debate,— 
in  the  end,  when  the  decision  went  against  him  on  that  point, 
suffering  the  decision  to  pass  under  protest.  Thus  he  opposed 
the  election  of  Henderson  as  Moderator,  the  election  of  John- 
stone  as  Clerk ;  and  day  after  day  he  kept  on  demurring, 
delaying,  and  protesting  at  every  new  stage,  in  a  way  which, 
while  it  vexed  the  Assembly,  impressed  them  with  a  respect 
for  his  ability.  "  I  take  the  man  to  be,"  says  Baillie,  who  had 
been  much  prejudiced  against  him,  "  of  a  sharp,  ready,  solid, 
"  clear  wit,  of  a  brave  and  masterlike  expression,  loud,  distinct, 
"  slow,  full,  yet  concise,  modest,  courtly :  if  the  King  have 
"  many  such  men,  he  is  a  well-served  prince."  It  needed  a 
Henderson  for  Moderator,  thought  Baillie,  to  match  such  a 
High  Commissioner. 

But  the  policy  of  mere  obstruction  was  to  come  to  an  end. 
On  the  sixth  and  seventh  days  of  sitting — Tuesday  the  27th 
and  Wednesday  the  28th  of  November — there  came  on  a  dis- 
cussion of  certain  documents  striking  at  the  powers  and  the 
very  existence  of  the  Assembly  itself.  There  was  a  Declinator 
in >ni  the  Bishops,  i.e.  a  paper  in  which  they  jointly  took  ex- 
ception to  the  Assembly,  and  refused  to  appear  in  it  or  recog- 
nise its  authority 2 ;  and  there  were  three  allied  documents, 
signed  in  all  by  about  fifty  ministers,  protesting  against  the 
validity  of  the  Assembly  if  laymen  or  commissioners  from 
such  should  have  votes  in  it.  These  last  were  speedily  dis- 

1  Minute   .11  «>iint#  of  the  arrange-  roll  of  the  members,  both  lay  and  clo- 

\-Muinbly  nro   tfivun   in  rical. 

Bail  Ho  and  Ktovunwm  ;  and  in  Stovon-  *  Sc«     •'  •     />    !',<,<!>,,•  (a  l<>n^   douu- 

•on  (275—277)  may  be  seen  a  complete  mont)  in  Rush  worth,  II.  866—87-'. 


40  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTOliY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

posed  of,  the  slenderness  of  the  numerical  opposition  which 
they  revealed  surprising  the  Assembly  itself.  But  the  De- 
clinator of  the  Bishops  !  It  was  known  that,  in  this  matter, 
if  in  any,  the  Marquis  and  the  Assembly  would  come  to  a 
rupture,  and  it  was  thought  of  evil  omen  that  at  this  juncture 
of  the  proceedings  the  Bishop  of  Eoss  had  arrived  in  Glasgow 
from  Court.  Accordingly,  the  debate  became "  complicated 
and  vehement.  There  were  counter-protests  against  the  De- 
clinator from  the  nobles  who  had  promoted  the  libel  against 
the  Bishops ;  there  were  speeches  by  Eothes  and  other  chief 
leaders ;  there  was  a  speech  by  the  Moderator,  expounding 
the  rights  of  the  Assembly  by  reference  to  the  Synod  of  Dort 
as  a  precedent,  and  in  the  light  of  natural  reason  ;  and, 
Balcanquhal  having  obtained  leave  to  comment  on  one  por- 
tion of  the  Moderator's  speech,  there  was  protracted  argument- 
ation in  reply.  At  length,  the  debate  having  wearied  itself 
out,  it  was  left  for  the  Moderator  to  put  the  question  to  the 
Assembly  "  whether  they  found  themselves  the  Bishops' 
judges  notwithstanding  their  Declinator."  At  this  point  the 
Marquis  rose  in  a  warning  manner.  After  speaking  of  the 
conflict  of  his  own  feelings  in  having  to  discharge  a  duty  so 
painful,  he  declared  that  the  course  of  the  Assembly's  pro- 
ceedings was  now  inconsistent  with  his  Majesty's  instructions 
to  him  ;  and,  delivering  a  paper  containing  these  instructions 
to  the  Clerk,  he  desired  that  it  should  be  read.  The  paper, 
among  other  things,  required  the  Assembly  to  accept,  sign, 
and  register  the  King's  Covenant.  When  it  had  been  read, 
the  Moderator,  after  a  grave  and  loyal  reply,  insisted  that  he 
must  proceed  to  his  duty  and  put  the  question  of  the  Decli- 
nator. Again  the  Marquis  interfered,  intimating  that,  if  the 
question  were  put,  he  must  leave  the  Assembly.  Very  anxious 
to  prevent  such  a  catastrophe,  Eothes  addressed  his  Grace, 
and  there  followed  a  kind  of  informal  dialogue,  in  which  all 
the  objections  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Covenanters  were 
again  urged  by  his  Grace,  and  redargued  by  Eothes,  Loudoun, 
and  others.  While  speaking,  the  Marquis  was  seen  to  shed 
tears  ;  and  his  distress,  communicating  itself  to  the  Assembly, 
"  drew  water,"  says  Baillie,  "  from  many  eyes, — well  I  wot, 


1638-39.]  III!     i.l.ASGOW  ASSEMBLY.  41 

much  from  min.  .  He  summed  up  with  these  words:  "I 
"  stand  to  the  King's  prerogative  as  supreme  judge  over  all 
"  causes,  civil  and  ecclesiastic  ;  to  him  the  Lords  of  the  Clergy 
"  have  appealed  ;  iind  therefore  I  will  not  suffer  their  cause  to 
"  be  farther  reasoned  here."  He  would  have  had  the  Assembly 
thru  t«>  luvak  up;  but,  as  they  would  not,  he  protested,  in 
the  King's  name  ami  in  his  own,  against  whatever  they  might 
do,  and  left  the  church  with  his  retinue  of  Privy  Councillors. 
One  Privy  Councillor,  indeed,  remained  behind.  This  was 
Lome, — now  no  longer  called  by  that  name,  however ;  for,  by 
his  father's  death  in  London,  he  had  just  become  Earl  of 
Argyle.  He  had  taken  the  opportunity,  during  the  last  con- 
versation, to  explain,  in  the  Marquis's  presence,  his  past 
conduct,  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had  signed  the 
King's  Covenant  in  a  sense  contrary  to  the  Prelatic  interpret- 
ation that  had  been  given  to  it,  and  to  signify  his  intention 
thenceforth  to  adhere  to  the  Assembly  as  a  lawful  convocation 
of  his  countrymen.  Hurrah  for  Argyle  at  last !  From  this 
time  forward  he  is  openly  a  Covenanter.1 

Next  day,  as  was  expected,  there  was  a  proclamation  by 
the  Marquis,  dissolving  the  Assembly  on  pain  of  treason,  and 
commanding  all  persons  not  resident  in  Glasgow  to  leave  the 
city  within  twenty-four  hours.  The  Assembly,  of  course,  had 
their  protest  ready,  and  did  not  move.  Only  three  or  four  of 
them, so  far  as  is  known, left  their  places.  Deliberately  through 
nineteen  more  sittings  they  proceeded  with  their  business, 
the  last  or  twenty-sixth  sitting  being  on  Thursday  the  20th 
of  December.  An  index  of  their  principal  Acts  may  be  read 
in  Rushworth,  and  their  proceedings  may  be  studied  more  at 
large  in  the  published  records  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  Suffice 
it  here  to  say  that  they  swept  Episcopacy,  root  and  branch, 
out  of  the  land,  and  re-established  the  Kirk  on  the  Presby- 
trrian  basis.  There  was  an  Act  annulling  the  six  imme- 
diately preceding  Assemblies,  from  that  of  Perth  in  1618  back 

1  Baillir,    I.    !•_'.;      Ill;    Stevenson,  ivnud  I  .ctwoon  the  9th  of  October,  when 

273—308;  Ku-h\v..rth,   II.  841  —  854.  Lome  still  gigiui  himself  "Lome,"  and 

Tho  exact  date  of  the  old  Karl  of  Ar-  tho  .1th  i>f  November,  when  UK 

i.-uth   i--  n.it  in  IKJ  found  in  tin,-  in  ;i  K-ttcr  to  \\Ynt worth,  n-furs  to  him 

Peerage- books  :  but  it  must  have  bap-  as  "  Argylo"  (Mrittfoi-d  Lttlert). 


42  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

to  that  of  Linlithgow  in  1606,  by  which  Prelacy  had  been 
introduced  or  accepted.  There  were  Acts  condemning  the 
Service-Book,  the  Canons,  the  High  Commission,  and  the 
Articles  of  Perth.  There  was  an  Act  deposing  and  excom- 
municating "  the  sometime  pretended  bishops  of  St.  Andrews, 
Glasgow,  Koss,  Galloway,  Brechin,  Edinburgh,  Dunblane  and 
Aberdeen,"  with  an  Act  deposing,  but  not  excommunicating, 
the  less  unpopular  bishops  of  Moray,  the  Isles,  Argyle, 
Orkney,  Caithness,  and  Dunkeld.  There  were  Acts  ratifying 
the  National  Covenant  and  disowning  the  King's  Covenant. 
There  were  Acts  "  restoring  Presbyteries  and  Provincial  and 
General  Assemblies  "  on  their  former  basis,  and  redistributing 
the  fifty-three  Presbyteries  into  convenient  provinces  for 
Synods.  There  were  minor  acts  about  all  matters  and  sundry, 
— concerning  schools  and  colleges,  against  delinquents  inferior 
to  the  bishops,  against  Popery,  concerning  Sabbath-observance, 
against  Deans  and  Chapters,  and  (alas  for  toleration  in  those 
days  even  among  the  foes  of  Laud !)  against  "  the  printing 
anything  anent  the  Assembly,  or  any  treatise  concerning  the 
Kirk,"  without  warrant  in  writing  from  the  Assembly's  Clerk. 
Finally,  the  next  meeting  of  the  Assembly  was  appointed  to 
be  held  in  Edinburgh  in  July  1639.  In  these  Acts  the 
Assembly  was  singularly  unanimous.  Argyle,  though  not  as 
a  member,  took  part  in  the  deliberations,  and  remained  with 
the  Assembly  till  it  broke  up.  Two  days  before  it  broke  up 
it  was  again  denounced  and  annulled  by  a  royal  Proclamation. 
This  Proclamation,  direct  from  the  King,  and  dated  "  White- 
hall, Dec.  8,"  had  been  read  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh,  and 
met  there,  as  usual,  by  a  detailed  protest.  The  Glasgow 
Assembly  of  1638  was  to  remain  a  solid  and  accomplished 
fact  in  the  history  of  Scotland.  It  re-established  the  Church 
of  the  nation  on  its  Presbyterian  foundation ;  and  its 
Moderator,  Alexander  Henderson,  is  remembered  to  this 
day  as  the  great  successor  of  John  Knox.1 


i  Rushworth,  II.  872—875  ;  Acts  and       Bafflie,  I.  144—176  ;  Stevenson,  308— 
Proceedings  of  the  Assembly  of  1638       352. 
(reprinted    at    Edinburgh    in    1838); 


1838-39.]  I  IK. ST  "  BISHOPS*  WAR."  43 

THE  FIRST  "BISHOPS'  WAR"  WITH  THE  SCOTS. 

England  had  been  roused,  from  end  to  end,  by  the  events 
in  Scotland.  Till  some  eighteen  months  before,  English  ideas 
of  Scotland  had  been  very  vague.  In  the  descriptions  of 
English  satirists  it  was  a  land  of  beggary  and  oatmeal, 
from  which,  since  the  union  of  the  Crowns,  there  had  been 
a  constant  influx  of  lank  and  greedy  immigrants. 

Had  Cain  been  Scotch,  God  would  have  changed  his  doom  ; 
Not  made  him  wander,  but  compelled  him  home. 

These  lines  had  yet  to  be  written  by  the  satirist  Cleveland  ; 
but  the  jest  which  they  express  had  long  been  popular  in 
England.  "  The  truth  is,"  says  Clarendon,  "  there  was  so 
"  little  curiosity,  either  in  the  court  or  the  country,  to  know 
"  anything  of  Scotland,  or  what  was  done  there,  that,  when 
"  the  whole  nation  was  solicitous  to  know  what  passed  weekly 
"  in  Germany  and  Poland,  and  all  other  parts  of  Europe,  no 
"  man  ever  inquired  what  was  doing  in  Scotland,  nor  had  that 
"  kingdom  a  place  or  mention  in  one  page  of  any  gazette." 
Jenny  Geddes's  arm  had  changed  all  that.  Since  the  pro- 
clamation of  the  Covenant  there  had  been  an  intense  interest 
throughout  England  in  the  progress  of  "  the  Scottish  busi- 
ness." The  illustrations  of  this  that  might  be  gathered  from 
the  English  Home-Office  documents  of  the  time  are  innu- 
merable. One  reads  there  how  information  was  sent  from 
Northumberland  to  Secretary  Windebank  that  John  Alured, 
dwelling  near  the  border,  and  worth  400/.  or  500/.  a  year, 
had  been  heard  to  say  that  "  the  Scots  were  brave  boys," 
and  "  would  reform  this  land  by  a  Parliament  as  they  had 
done  theirs  already."  One  reads  of  a  nest  of  sympathisers 
with  the  Scots  in  Newcastle,  and  how  from  that  town  a 
merchant  named  Fenwicke,  a  tanner  named  Bittlestone,  and 
others,  had  paid  a  visit  of  sympathy  to  Edinburgh,  had 
lodged  there  in  a  poor  widow's  house  in  the  High  Street, 
had  heard  Mr.  Roque  (Rollock)  preach  on  Psalm  cxxii.  6,  7, 
and  had  been  so  greatly  impressed  that  they  had  either 
pied  the  Covenant  themselves  or  wished  to  do  so.  Nor 


44         '      LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

was  it  only  in  the  north  of  England  that  such  instances 
of  sympathy  with  the  Scots  were  breaking  out,  in  a  manner 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  local  authorities  and  of  the 
Home  Office.  In  London,  now  and  for  weeks  and  months 
to  come,  Mr.  Secretary  Windebank,  and  his  private  secretary 
and  son-in-law,  Mr.  Robert  Reade,  were  busy  to  weariness 
with  informations  that  had  reached  them  of  cases  of  the 
Scottish  distemper,  and  with  inquiries  and  arrests  arising 
out  of  those  informations.  Some  of  these  cases  are  comical 
enough.  Lists  were  made  out  of  Scottish  tailors  and  other 
Scottish  tradesmen  in  the  City,  and  of  the  cheap  eating-houses 
and  the  like  to  which  Scotchmen  did  most  resort ;  and  one 
reads,  inter  alia,  how  a  certain  Mrs.  Cromwell,  living  near 
Shere  Lane,  and  not  only  she,  but  her  neighbour  Mrs.  Grace 
Southcott,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Swadling,  Vicar  of  Aldgate's,  and 
Dr.  May,  a  physician, — all  of  whom  chanced  to  be  in  Mrs. 
Cromwell's  house  at  the  time, — were  alarmed  by  the  wild 
talk  of  a  certain  Captain  Napier,  a  Scotchman,  who  had  dropt 
in  with  apologies  from  his  sick  wife  for  not  having  been  able 
to  call  on  Mrs.  Cromwell.  The  news  from  Scotland  having 
been  mentioned,  Captain  Napier  had  told  them  that  there 
was  more  in  that  matter  than  people  generally  knew.  "  There 
were  many  good  heads  writing  and  busy  about  these  things," 
and  he  himself  was  not  in  London  for  nothing.  He  has 
the  honour  of  seeing  the  imprisoned  Bishop  of  Lincoln  almost 
every  day  in  the  Tower ;  "  that  Bishop  hath  more  in  him 
"  than  all  the  rest  of  the  Bishops  of  England,  and,  if  he  had 
"  been  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  none  of  all  these 
"  things  had  fallen  out."  What  was  brewing  time  alone 
could  tell.  Only  this  he  would  hint,  that  "all  the  apostles 
of  Christ  had  not  100/.  a  year  amongst  them,"  and  that,  if 
the  Bishops  of  England  were  brought  back  to  something  like 
that  state  of  things,  it  might  be  better  for  all  parties !  All 
this  and  much  more  did  Captain  Napier  say  openly  in  Mrs. 
Cromwell's  house,  till  the  hair  of  his  hearers  stood  on  end ; 
and  no  sooner  was  he  gone  than,  Mr.  Swadling  and  Dr.  May 
having  agreed  that  "  many  a  man  hath  been  laid  upon  a 
hurdle  for  less  matters  than  this  and  for  concealment,"  an 


1638-39.]  Mi:sT  "  BISHOI'>    \v.\l;."  45 

account  of  what  had  passed  was  drawn  up,  read  to  the  women, 
and  sent  to  Secretary  Windebank.  The  result  was  that  Cap- 
lain  Napier  soon  found  himself  under  lock  and  key.  If  the 
accounts  are  correct,  we  need  not  pity  him  much  :  he  was  but 
a  Scottish  Bobadil,  and  had  probably  a  bee  in  his  bonnet — 
Hut  what  shall  we  say  of  the  daily  intercepting  of  letters 
addressed  to  respectable  London  citizens,  and  of  police-visits 
to  their  houses  to  search  for  papers  on  suspicion  of  their  com- 
plicity with  the  Scots  ?  Among  the  persons  so  suspected,  and 
exaiiiiiK'd  under  warrant  from  Windebank,  was  a  "Samuel 
Haitlib,  merchant,"  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  in  this 
History.  And  the  feeling  regarding  the  existence  of  which 
the  Government  was  thus  on  the  alert,  did,  doubtless,  exist 
throughout  the  entire  body  of  the  English  Puritans.  Above 
all,  for  the  Hampdens,  the  Cromwells,  and  the  Pyms,  walking 
about  this  time,  as  we  can  fancy  them,  in  the  fields  or  along 
quirt  pathways  in  their  several  parts  of  England,  and  won- 
dering how  long  the  reign  of  "  Thorough  "  was  to  last,  and 
when,  if  ever,  they  were  to  be  called  upon  again  to  act  for 
their  countrymen,  the  news  from  Scotland  must  have  had  a 
strangely  agitating  interest.1 

1  The  little  odds  and  ends  of  fact  these  two  years  post,  and  it  being  a 
mentioned  in  this  ]>aragraph  are  from  time  which  threatens  great  change  and 
notes  of  my  readings  in  the  MSS.  in  trouble,   I  have  thought  good  now  to 
the  State- Paper  Office.    The  date  of  the  salute,"  &c.— I  may  hero  mention  that 
A  lured  case  is  July  4 — 9;  that  of  the  to  the  fears  of  complicity  with  the  Scots 
N  i].;.-r  case,  August  8  ;  the  date  of  the  entertained  by  the  Government  about 
inquiry  about   the   Newcastle  sympa-  this  time   wo  owe  some  curious  sta- 
in January  1638-9.     Thence,  on  tistics  as  to  the  number  of  forrlffiiert 
for  some  months,  Windebank  and  Rcadc  then  resident  in  London.     From  are- 
are  busy  with  London  cases.     The  war-  turn  of  names  made  to  Windebank,  in 
rant  for  examining  I  lartlib  and  search-  pursuance   of    a   Privy   Council   order 
i  house  is  of  date  May  1,  1639.  (S.  P.  0.  MS.  of  date  March  15,  1638-9), 
Reade,  who  had  just  written  on  I  find  that  there  wore  then  838  "stran- 
-•  vious  day  (April  30),  "I  am  in  gers  "  in  Westminster — viz.  641  French, 
•ntinual  employment  in  oxamin-  17ti  Dutch,  15  Italians,  and  6S{>aniards 
ing  these  Puritan  rogues,  &c.,  that  I  — a    largo    proportion    of    whom   are 
am  weary  of  my  life."— I  have  seen  a  described    as    "painters,"    "  picture- 
• i'yrn-  in  the  State- Paper  Office,  drawers,"  or  "lymners,"  while  others 
dated  "London,  July  20,   1638,"  and  are  engravers,  musicians,  silver- workers, 
addressed    to  his   "very   worthy  and  &c.     Westminster  would  naturally  bo 
mm  h  esteemed  friend,  John  Wandes-  the   head -quarters  of  foreigners  who 
f-T'l.  .  I'.-      His  Ma j.  agent  and  counsel  wore  artists.      In  the  City  of  London 
f.-r  th«-   Kn/li-h   .it    A:«-|.|HI  in  Syria."  there  were  at  the  same  time  (MS.  of 
In   this  letter    (<i«ul>tlcs8  intercepted  date  March  19,  giving,  however,  only 
•  ;.'ht  to  Windobank)  Pym  says,  numbers,  and  not  a  list  of  names)  830 
"Being  again  to  go  into  the  country,  "strangers,"  classified   thus:    French. 
I  have  been  for  the  most  i*in  1  >uteh,  221  ;  Walloons,  33" 


46  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

The  nature  of  this  interest  of  the  English  Puritans  in 
the  Scottish  struggle  may  be  easily  conceived.  From  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  it  is  true,  a  large  proportion  of  those  who 
were  called  Puritans  in  England  had  desired  nothing  more  in 
the  shape  of  ecclesiastical  change  than  a  modification  of  the 
Episcopal  power,  an  abatement  of  ceremonies,  and  the  like ; 
but,  in  so  far  as  any  other  model  of  a  Church  than  the  Epis- 
copal had  been  contemplated  by  those  English  Puritans  who 
stopped  short  of  Independency  and  Separatism,  it  had,  of 
course,  been  the  Genevan  or  Presbyterian.  Most  probably 
the  tightening  and  heightening  of  English  Episcopacy  by 
Laud  had  of  late  driven  the  thoughts  of  the  Puritans  more 
and  more  to  this  notion  of  a  Church  without  bishops  as  pro- 
mising the  only  effective  deliverance.  Such  a  notion,  how- 
ever, can  have  existed  but  vaguely  while  it  was  only  by  look- 
ing across  the  seas  to  Holland  and  Switzerland  that  actual 
specimens  of  non  -  episcopal  Church -government  could  be 
found.  But,  now  that  one  portion  of  the  British  Island  itself 
had  actually  swept  away  its  bishops  and  reverted  to  the 
Presbyterian  system,  it  was  not  wonderful  that  Presby- 
terianism  should  seem  to  the  English  Puritans  a  nearer 
possibility  than  it  had  been.  All  of  them  indeed  did  not  as 
yet  go  the  length  of  desiring  the  Presbyterian  system  for 
England.  But  all  of  them  were  satisfied  that,  if  the  Scots 
chose  to  have  that  system  in  Scotland,  they  ought  not  to  be 
prevented  by  any  interference  from  without ;  and  they  were 
shocked  at  the  idea  of  a  war  between  the  two  nations  for  the 
sake  of  the  Scottish  bishops. 

Nevertheless,  war  there  was  now  to  be.  On  this  the  King, 
Laud,  Wentworth,  Arundel,  Cottington  and  others  were  re- 
solved. Nor  could  any  of  the  Councillors  see  how  it  could 
be  longer  avoided.  The  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  who  had  been 
detained  by  illness  and  disappointment  in  Scotland  till  the 
month  of  January,  could  give  no  other  advice.  Accordingly, 
as  preparations  had  been  going  on  more  or  less  secretly  for 

mans,  24  ;  Italians,  11 ;  Polanders,  2  ;  burghers,    1.    As  regards  professions, 

Bohemians,    1  ;    Norwegians,    1  ;    Sa-  202  of  the  total  830  are  described  as 

voyards,  1 ;  Normans,  1 ;  Florentines,  1 ;  "weavers,"  and  the  rest  as  of  other 

Palatinate-men,  1  ;  Venetians,  6  ;  Ham-  professions. 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "  BISHOPS*   WAR."  47 

months,  with  a  view  to  a  war  in  the  spring  at  any  rate,  so 
during  the  months  of  January  and  February  1638-9  these 
preparations  were  pressed  forward  with  all  the  urgency  of 
immediate  haste.  The  details  of  these  preparations  the 
reader  may  easily  conceive  for  himself.  We  will  but  glance 
at  one  or  two  of  the  special  methods  for  raising  money  to 
which  the  King  had  recourse. 

The  Nobles  were  called  upon  to  subscribe.  By  a  circular 
Irttri  in  the  King's  name  to  all  the  English  nobility,  dated 
"  Westminster,  January  26,  1638-9,"  they  were  individually 
informed  that  the  King  was  to  lead  in  person  an  expedition 
against  the  Scots,  and  that  the  rendezvous  was  to  be  at  York 
on  the  1st  of  April;  and  they  were  required  to  intimate  within 
fifteen  days  to  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  State  the  nature  and 
the  extent  of  the  assistance  which  his  Majesty  might  expect 
from  them  on  that  occasion.  A  good  many  replies  to  this 
letter,  some  of  which  are  curious  specimens  of  aristocratic 
penmanship  and  orthography,  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  State- 
Paper  Office ;  where  also  there  is  an  abstract,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Mr.  Nicholas,  Clerk  to  the  Council,  of  all  the  replies 
sent  in,  to  the  number  of  seventy-seven.  The  gradations  of 
wealth  among  the  English  nobles,  in  combination  with  their 
zeal  and  loyalty  in  general,  or  with  their  appetite  for  the 
Scottish  war  in  particular,  are  easily  to  be  seen  in  this  docu- 
ment. None  of  the  seventy-seven  nobles  included  in  it  conies 
up  to  Wentworth.  His  name  is  not  included  in  it,  apparently 
because  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  remain  in  Ireland ; 
but,  hearing  that  such  a  summons  had  gone  forth,  he  had 
written  over  to  the  King,  subscribing  20  OO/.,  and  asking  his 
Majesty  to  command  all  he  had  beyond  that,  "  to  the  utter- 
in- >st  farthin  Perhaps  next  in  zeal  to  Wentworth  is  the 
Karl  of  Worcester.  He  promises  1000/.,  and  will  send  his 
son  and  heir  (Lord  Herbert,  afterwards  Earl  of  Glamorgan)  to 
the  rendezvous  with  20  horse.  A  few  nobles, — e.g.  Lord 
<  taring,  Lord  Cottington,  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  the  Earl  of  New- 
castle, and  the  Earl  of  St.  Alban's  and  Clanricarde, — promise 
20  horse,  and  attendance  in  person  or  by  substitute;  while 
others, — ,.</.  ihr  Kin-Is  Mt'Tliain't,  Kingston,  and  L'ivers, — offer 


48  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

1 0  0  01.,  in  lieu  of  horse,  or  of  both  horse  and  attendance.  The 
Earl  of  Bridgewater;  Milton's  "  Earl "  in  Comus,  will  furnish 
12  foot  for  six  months,  or  pay  1000/.,  whichever  is  most  ac- 
ceptable to  the  King ;  and  the  money  proves  most  acceptable. 
Lord  Falconbridge  will  attend  with  1 0  horse  and  2  0  foot  "  at 
the  least."  There  are  smaller  offerings  from  many,  of  500^. 
or  600/.,  or  of  4  horse,  6  horse,  10  horse,  with  or  without 
personal  at  ten  dance;  and  a  very  considerable  number, — among 
whom  are  the  Marquis  of  Winchester,  and  the  Earls  of 
Dover,  Danby,  Northampton,  Northumberland,  Westmoreland, 
Hertford,  Denbigh,  Berkshire,  Bolingbroke,and  Clare, — do  not 
commit  themselves  to  any  exact  contribution,  but  promise  to 
attend  "  with  as  good  equipage  as  their  fortunes  and  the 
shortness  of  the  time  will  permit."  Not  a  few  beg  to  be 
excused  altogether :  from  attendance,  on  the  grounds  of  ill- 
health,  old  age,  or  important  engagements ;  and  from  contri- 
bution, on  account  of  poverty  or  the  suddenness  of  the  demand. 
Among  these  are  the  Earls  of  Lincoln,  Sussex,  and  Notting- 
ham. Some  of  the  replies  in  this  category  are  peculiar.  Lord 
Charles  Stanhope,  for  example,  "  is  not  able  to  subsist  since 
he  lost  his  place  but  by  his  Majesty's  help  " ;  but,  if  he  were 
paid  his  arrears  of  1400/.  or  1500/.,  he  might  be  able  to  do 
something.  Similarly,  the  philosophical  Lord  Herbert  of 
Cherbury  reminds  Windebank  that  since  1624  he  has  been 
waiting  in  vain  for  repayment  of  5,5 OO/.  disbursed  by  him 
while  he  was  ambassador  in  France,  and  that  moreover  he  has 
been  more  in  the  cold  shade  of  late  than  a  person  of  his 
merits,  both  literary  and  diplomatic,  might  have  expected. 
The  Earl  of  Bristol,  who  had  greater  cause  of  complaint 
against  Charles,  sends  no  distinct  reply,  but  hopes  to  come  to 
London  soon  with  "  such  an  answer  as  may  be  expected." 
Lord  Mandeville,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  "  hopes  his 
father  will  furnish  him  "  with  the  means  to  serve.  The  Earl 
of  Warwick,  "  being  to  go  to  the  West  Indies,  desires  to  be 
excused  from  his  personal  attendance,"  but  will  send  his  son. 
The  Earl  of  Bedford  first  offers  500J.,  and  then,  seemingly 
with  reluctance,  raises  the  sum  to  1000/.,  with  a  promise  of 
personal  attendance.  In  his  case,  as  in  some  of  the  preceding. 


1638-39.]  MUST  "BISHOPS'  WAR."  49 

the  struggle  between  loyalty  and  Puritan  sympathies  is  appa- 
rent; but  there  are  only  two  cases  in  which  the  reluct ;tn<  «• 
which  so  many  must  have  felt  is  openly  avowed  and  assist- 
ance refused  on  principle.  The  noblemen  thus  courageously 
conspicuous  are  the  two  future  Puritan  leaders,  Lord  Saye  and 
Sele  and  Lord  Brooke.  In  their  first  letters  both  "  apprehend 
that  the  subject  is  not  obliged  to  any  aid  of  that  nature  but 
by  Parliament "  ;  and,  when  they  are  asked  to  reconsider  that 
answer,  all  they  concede  is  that  they  will  be  ready  "  to  attend 
his  Majesty  when  any  part  of  the  kingdom  of  England  shall 
be  invaded."  They  will  do  what  the  law  requires  them  to  do, 
and  only  that ! 1 

From  no  class  of  the  community  was  there  a  larger  propor- 
tionate contribution  than  from  the  Clergy.  It  was  natural 
that  among  many  of  them  ecclesiastical  enthusiasm  should 
prompt  to  a  pecuniary  demonstration  against  Jack  Presbyter  ; 
and  those  of  them  who  owned  no  such  feeling  were  under  a 
very  strong  whip.  Laud  had  taken  the  matter  in  hand.  A 
circular  letter,  dated  "  Lambeth,  Feb.  1 1 ,"  had  been  sent  to  all 
the  clergy  of  his  Province,  requiring  them  to  meet  and  con- 
tribute, instructing  them  that  his  Majesty  looked  for  "  a  greater 
sum  than  in  the  ordinary  way,"  and  intimating  that  every 
clergyman's  subscription  would  be  registered,  and  defaulters 
would  be  noted.  Archbishop  Neile  extended  the  letter  to  his 
Province  of  York.  The  result  was  a  most  respectable  contribu- 
tion, satisfactory  even  to  Laud.2  That  prelate  was,  indeed, 
now  overburdened  with  the  anxiety  of  an  ecclesiastical  revolu- 
tion roused  by  himself,  and  for  which  he  knew  that  he  was 
held  responsibla  As  usual,  his  waking  thoughts  passed  into 
his  dreams.  "  Tuesday  Night,  Feb.  1 2, 1 6  3  9 ,"  he  writes  in  his 
Diary,  "  I  dreamed  that  K.  C.  [King  Charles]  was  to  be 
"  married  to  a  minister's  widow,  and  that  I  was  called  upon 
"  to  do  it :  no  Service- Book  was  to  be  found  ;  and  in  my  own 


i  Tli-                  •••  ular  letter  in  Rush-  Cherbury's,  which  is  in  a  neat  and  ele- 

wortli.    II.    791-2;    "A    List    of    the  gant   hand,   »>eintf  dated    "From   my 

Lords  Answerers  to  the  King's  Letter  "  house  at  Haquenay,  9  Feb.  1638  "  ;  also 

<>.,  ,,f  ,|;ite  Feb.  28,  1638-9;  a  Wontwrth's   letter   t..    the-   King  in 

xi  many  of  the  answers  themselves  .  date  Feb.  10,  1638-9. 

the  a    P.   0.,-Lord    II  *  Runhw..rth,  II.  819. 

VOL.  II  E 


50  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

"  book,  which  I  had,  I  could  not  find  the  place  for  marriage." 
This  was  ominous. 

From  the  laity  generally,  and  from  the  commercial  class  in 
particular,  far  less  was  to  be  obtained  than  from  the  nobles 
and  the  clergy.  All  that  the  City  of  London  offered  was  a 
paltry  sum  of  5,200/.;  which  his  Majesty  refused  with  scorn.1 
Hence  an  application  to  the  English  Eoman  Catholics.  The 
Queen  herself  appealed  by  letter  to  her  fellow-religionists  ;  a 
central  committee  of  influential  Eomanists,  including  Sir 
Kenelm  Digby  and  Walter  Montague,  was  formed  in  London  ; 
and  in  all  the  shires  Eoman  Catholic  collectors  were  set  to 
work.  The  sum  raised  was  considerable,  and  would  have  been 
greater  had  not  hints  come  from  Eome,  through  George  Con 
and  other  Papal  agents,  not  to  be  too  forward  in  the  affair. 
It  was  not  so  clear  at  the  Vatican  that  the  interests  of  the 
true  Church  would  be  promoted  by  helping  the  King  of  the 
Protestant  Island  to  put  down  a  portion  of  his  subjects  a 
little  more  absurdly  Protestant  than  himself ;  and  the  English 
Catholics  were  warned  to  "  desist  from  that  foolish,  nay 
rather  illiterate  and  childish,  custom  "  of  distinguishing  be- 
tween Anglicanism  and  Puritanism,  as  if  the  one  were  a 
whit  nearer  the  eternal  Italian  truth  than  the  other.2 

The  total  levies  ordered  from  all  England  and  Wales  were 
43,153  foot  and  3,599  horse.  Of  this  force  a  part  was  to 
remain  in  reserve  within  England,  while  the  rest  was  to  form 
the  army  destined  for  the  Scottish  border.  To  the  chief 
command  of  this  army  the  King  had  appointed  the  Earl  of 
Arundel  and  Surrey,  then  in  his  forty-eighth  year.  He  was 
chosen  for  his  high  rank  and  general  stateliness,  and  also 
perhaps  because  his  ancestor  had  commanded  the  English 
at  Flodden.  As  Lieutenant -General  under  Arundel,  there 
had  been  appointed  Eobert  Devereux,  Earl  of  Essex,  of  about 
the  same  age  as  Arundel,  but  of  military  experience,  and, 
according  to  Clarendon,  "  the  most  popular  man  in  the  king- 
dom," and  the  likeliest  to  be  of  use  to  Charles,  if  Charles 

1  Letter  of  Garrard  of  the  Charter-        Papers  in  the  State  Paper  Office, 
house,    of    date    March    28,    1639,    to  2  Rushworth,  II.  820—826. 

Viscount  Conway,  among  the  Conway 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "BISHOPS*  WAR."  51 

had  possessed  due  discernment  Essex  would  have  preferred 
Master  of  the  Horse  ;  but,  by  the  Queen's  influence, 
that  post  was  given  to  the  Earl  of  Holland.  To  assist  the 
land-operations  of  the  army,  a  fleet  of  sixteen  vessels,  under 
the  command  of  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  with  Admiral  Sir 
John  Pennington  as  his  second,  was  to  sail  from  the  Thames 
for  the  Firth  of  Forth.  The  scheme  of  a  descent  by  the  Earl 
of  Antrim  and  his  Irish  followers  on  the  west  or  Argyleshire 
coast  was  revived,  and  it  was  hoped  that  Wentworth  might 
aid  or  follow  up  that  expedition.  Finally,  to  turn  to  account 
the  anti-covenanting  elements  in  Scotland,  a  commission  was 
sent  to  the  Marquis  of  Huntley,  appointing  him  Lieutenant 
for  the  King  at  Aberdeen  and  in  all  the  northern  parts  of 
Scotland.1 

It  was  not  till  the  King's  preparations  were  in  a  sufficient 
state  of  forwardness  that  he  openly  announced  to  his  English 
subjects  the  intention  which  they  had  gathered  from  his  acts. 
This  was  done  in  a  long  proclamation,  of  date  February  27, 
ordered  to  be  read  in  all  the  parish  churches  of  England  and 
Wales  after  Divine  service.  Here  his  Majesty  gave  such  a 
summary  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Scots  as  would, 
he  said,  make  evident,  in  the  meantime,  the  justice  of  his 
intended  war,  but  referred  those  who  might  desire  to  study 
the  question  more  at  leisure  to  an  elaborate  documentary 
history  which  Dr.  Balcanquhal  was  preparing  for  the  press 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Large  Declaration."  In  the  pro- 
clamation very  strong  statements  were  made.  The  Cove- 
nanters were  accused  of  being  enemies  to  monarchy,  and  of 
a  design  to  invade  England.2  As  the  Scots  had  circulated 
abundantly  in  England  papers  giving  a  very  different  version 
of  their  acts  and  their  principles,  the  proclamation  of  Charles 
had  little  effect;  and  the  popular  English  feeling  against 
tin-  war  broke  out  in  all  sorts  of  forms.  Squibs,  and  drafts 
of  petitions  against  the  war,  \\viv  Hung  at  night  over  the 
walls  of  Whitehall  or  Lambeth,  or  dropped  within  the  pre- 


»  Riwhworth,  II.  826  —  828  ;  Claren-       /  Ifciillie,  1.  188  jSpaldii.^  I.  1  If.. 

p.  46;  Letter  of  Northumberland  *  See  the  Proclamation  inKiuthwortli, 

rth,  Jan.  29,   in  atra/ord       II.  830—833. 


52  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTOEY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

cincts  of  the  Court.  Take  as  a  specimen  one  rude  and  very 
plebeian  document,  now  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  written 
in  a  coarse,  cramped  hand,  and  endorsed  by  Windebank 
"  Libel  from  Ware."  Ware  is  a  village  in  Herts,  and  some 
rustic  Puritan  there  had  penned  the  document.  "If  you 
"  tender  God's  glory,"  he  says  to  the  King,  "  your  Highness' 
"  and  posterity's  good  and  your  loving  subjects'  love,  con- 
"  sider  what  you  do  before  you  begin  to  shed  innocent  blood. 
"  King  Ahab  brought  a  curse  on  all  his  posterity  by,"  &c. 
Again,  "  We,  your  poor  yet  true  subjects  have  many  griev- 
"  ances  which  lieth  heavy  on  our  bodies  and  our  states,  which 
"  we  cannot  well  bear;  yet  our  greatest  cause  of  grief  is 
"  that  God's  ordinances  are  taken  away,  and  our  ministers 
"  are  taken  away  or  their  mouths  stopped,  and  our  souls  are 
"  like  to  be  starved ;  and  we  have  as  much  need  to  stand  as 
"  the  Scots  have  in  this  behalf."  After  more  of  the  same 
sort,  the  petition  winds  up  with  this  bit  of  doggerel — 

"  Desierin'  your  Hines  to  pardon  my  pen, 
Gary  Laud  to  the  Scots,  and  hang  up  '  Ren."  1 

While  the  King  was  making  his  preparations,  the  Scots 
had  not  been  idle.  Foreseeing  war,  they  had,  even  before  the 
holding  of  their  Assembly,  taken  care  to  provide  what  was 
mainly  needful, — a  fit  commander -in -chief.  The  "  Thirty 
Years'  War,"  then  two-thirds  over,  had  been  a  grand  military 
school,  not  only  for  Germans,  Swedes,  Frenchmen,  and  other 
continentals,  but  also  for  many  a  volunteer  or  soldier - 
adventurer  from  the  British  Islands.  In  especial,  scores 
of  cadets  of  Lowland  Scottish  families  had  gone  abroad 
since  1618  in  the  Protestant  service,  and  had  become  officers 
in  the  armies  of  the  Elector-Palatine,  the  Danish  King,  and 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  these 
was  Alexander  Leslie,  a  natural  son  of  George  Leslie, 
captain  of  Blair  in  Athole,  one  of  that  wide-spread  Scottish 
family  of  Leslies  of  which  the  Earl  of  Eothes  was  now  the 


copy  in  my  notes  from  Papers       The   '"Ken"  whose  hanging-up  is  de- 
'.  0.     This  paper  is  addressed       sired    is    Bishop    Wren    of    Norwich, 


1  From  COT 
in  the  S.  P. 

on  the  back  ' '  To  the  Hie  and  Mighty       specially   unpopular    for    his    severity 
King  Charles  deliver  this  carefully."       against  the  Puritans. 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "  BISHOPS'  WAR."  53 

chief.  He  had  served  as  an  officer  in  Sir  Horatio 
Vere's  regiment  of  British  auxiliaries  sent  to  assist  the 
Dutch  against  Spinola,  and  had  passed  thence  into  the 
service  of  Gustavus.  Among  his  military  exploits  when 
he  was  one  of  Gustavus's  Scottish  officers  had  been  the 
defence  of  Stralsund  in  1628  against  the  Imperialists  under 
Wallenstein.  The  success  of  this  defence,  in  spite  of  Wal- 
lenstein's  boast  that  he  would  take  Stralsund  "  though  it 
were  chained  to  heaven  by  adamant,"  had  been  accounted  a 
splendid  incident  of  the  general  war.  Thenceforward,  as 
Sir  Alexander  Leslie,  Governor  of  Stralsund,  Field-marshal, 
&c.,  he  had  been  one  of  the  Swedish  hero's  most  trusted  sub- 
ordinates ;  and,  after  the  death  of  Gustavus,  he  had  remained 
in  the  Swedish  service, — now  in  Saxony  or  other  parts  of 
Germany,  and  now  in  Sweden  itself.  Early  in  1638  he 
seems  to  have  had  thoughts  of  returning  to  Scotland,  where 
since  1635  he  had  been  the  holder  of  some  property  in 
Fifeshire.  Whatever  intention  of  this  kind  he  may  have 
had  was  confirmed  by  the  intelligence  he  received  abroad  of 
the  events  of  that  year  in  Scotland  His  sympathies  being 
with  the  Covenanters,  he  had  even  busied  himself  with  pro- 
curing signatures  to  the  Covenant  among  the  Scottish  officers 
and  soldiers  in  Sweden  and  Germany.  To  him,  at  all  events, 
the  thoughts  of  the  Covenanting  leaders  at  home  had  turned. 
Rothes  had  entered  into  communication  with  him ;  and, 
coming  over  in  a  small  bark,  he  had  arrived  in  Scotland  in 
the  autumn  of  1638.  Without  any  post  as  yet,  and  indeed 
keeping  as  much  as  possible  in  the  background,  he  was 
yet  to  be  seen  occasionally  in  the  Canongate  or  in  the  High 
Street  of  Edinburgh  when  the  Covenanting  chiefs  were  in 
consultation.  He  was  a  little,  crooked,  and  rather  battered 
military  veteran,  at  whom  people  pointed  as  he  passed,  telling 
each  other  that  that  was  General  Leslie.1 

There  was  little  necessity  now  for  Leslie's  keeping  in  the 

>  Records  of  the  Family  of  Leslie,  by  Baillio,  p.   zxxix.;  Snalding,    I.   130; 

Colonel  Leslie  (1869),   III.  355,  356;  Harto's  dustavus  Adolphua  (wlit.  1807), 

Chambera'8    Dictionary    of     Eminent  I.    163.— Also    Th,   Melville*  «/.//    //» 

Scotsmen  ;  Baillio,  I.  Ill  and  213,  and  Leiliet,  by  Sir  William  Eraser  (1890), 

note  by  Mr.  Laing  to  his  memoir  of  I.  387—392. 


54  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTOEY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

background.     The  Scots,  indeed,  did,  after  their  Assembly, 
endeavour  to  avert  war  by  further  messages  and  "  supplica- 
tions "  ;  and,  when  these  had  been  of  no  avail,  they  had  been 
further  troubled  by  the  inopportune  appearance  here  and 
there  among  themselves  of  doctrinaire  hesitations  as  to  the 
legality  of  war  by  subjects  against  their  sovereign.   But  common 
sense  and  the  powerful  pen  of  Henderson  had  quashed  these 
hesitations ;  and  even  before  the  King's  proclamation  to  the 
English  of  his  intended  expedition  Scotland  was  alive  to  meet 
it.    Thus,  as  early  as  January  1 2,  Wentworth,  writing  to  Laud 
from  Dublin,  and  sending  him  certain  informations  which  he 
had  just  received  from  an  Ensign  Willoughby,  who  had  been 
several  months  in  Scotland,  nominally  on  a  visit  to  relatives, 
but  really  as  a  spy,  says  :  "  He  tells  me  that  a  few  days  before 
"  his  coming  thence  there  was  brought  to  Leith  forth  of  Sweden, 
"  in  two  ships,  culvering  and  demiculvering  6,  drakes  taper- 
"  bore  9  (all  of  brass  and  upon  their  carriages  ready  to  march), 
"  of  corslets  4,000,  and  of  muskets  1,800,  as  good  as  ever  he 
"  looked  on.     He  tells  me  he  never  saw  a  country  so  stored 
"  with  arms  in  all  his  life,  howbeit  very  much  of  them  refuse 
"  stuff  and  unserviceable.      They  have  drill-masters,  as  they 
"  term  them,  which  go  up  and  down  the  country,  exercising 
"  their  men."    This  was  but  the  beginning ;  and  we  hear  from 
other  quarters  of  committees  in  every  shire,  of  voluntary  sub- 
scriptions, of  money  borrowed  from  Mr.  William  Dick  of 
Edinburgh  on  the  joint-bond  of  the  nobles,  of  the  importation 
of  iron  and  the  manufacture  of  arms,  and  of  the  arrangement 
of  a  system  of  beacon-fires  along  the  coasts.     Every  fourth 
grown  man  in  every  parish,  if  necessary,  was  to  take  the 
field.     All  this,  so  far  as  not  done  by  spontaneous  zeal  in  the 
different  districts,  was  done  under  the  authority  of  a  kind  of 
Central  Council  which  had  established  itself  in  Edinburgh, 
as  a  new  edition  of  the  Tables  adapted  to  the  warlike  emer- 
gency by  the  omission  of  the  clerical  element.     This  Council, 
or  temporary  Government  of  Scotland,  consisted,  till  the  7th  of 
March,  of  a  large  assembly  of  deputies  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  ;  but,  after  that  date,  of  a  select  committee  of  twenty- 
six  nobles,  lairds,  and  burgesses,  of  whom  thirteen  were  to  be 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "BISHOPS'  WAR."  55 

a  quorum.  It  must  be  understood  also  that,  influenced  by 
the  example  of  Argyle,  or  by  a  patriotic  rousing  of  spirit 
against  a  threatened  invasion,  some  of  those  who,  as  Privy 
Councillors  of  the  King,  had  hitherto  stood  aloof,  now  joined 
the  Covenant  Among  these  were  the  Earls  of  Marischal, 
Mar,  and  Kinghorn,  and  Viscount  Almont.  Some  of  the 
younger  nobility,  also,  whose  fathers  held  by  the  King,  were 
eager  now  on  the  other  side.  Above  all,  the  little  crooked 
Field-marshal  Leslie  was  now  in  request.  Went  worth,  who 
had  heard  of  Leslie  and  his  activity,  writes  about  him  in  a 
way  which  at  least  shows  how  much  he  thought  would 
depend  on  the  kind  of  commander  the  Scots  had  got.  The 
English,  he  said,  were  certainly  ill  provided  with  military 
men  ;  but,  as  far  as  he  could  hear,  this  Leslie  was  "  no  such 
great  kill-cow  as  they  would  have  him."  He  could  "  neither 
write  nor  read,"  and  moreover,  though  certainly  a  captain, 
he  had  never  really  been  a  general  to  the  King  of  the  Swedes, 
but  only  to  a  Hanse  town,  or  something  of  that  sort !  All 
this,  or  most  of  it,  was  but  current  English  scandal.  Having 
seen  the  signature  "  A.  Leslie  "  in  contemporary  documents, 
I  can  certify  that  the  veteran  not  only  could  write,  but  wrote 
a  neat  and  picturesque  hand.  In  other  respects  he  well 
suited  his  countrymen ;  and,  while  Weutworth  was  writing, 
he  was  doing  what  he  could  to  impart  to  the  levies  he  was 
to  command  some  elements  of  Swedish  discipline.  He  had 
his  competent  assistants  in  other  Gustavus-Adolphus  Scots 
whom  he  had  taken  care  to  bring  over.  "  Crowner "  (i.e. 
Colonel)  William  Baillie  was  to  be  his  Lieutenant-general ; 
Crowner  Monro  was  drilling  the  Lothians ;  and  Crowner 
Alexander  Hamilton  had  set  up  a  foundry  of  cannon  in  the 
Potter-row.1 


i  Baillie,   I.    189  —  194;   Stevenson,  Leslie's  defective  education  has  come 

360—363 ;  Stratford  Letters,  under  date  down  elsewhere  than  in  the  Stratford 

cited  ;  MSS.  in  8.  P.  0.    One  particular  Letters.      It    figures   even    in  Colonel 

MS.    I  have  in  view  in  my  statement  Leslie  of  Balquhain's  Historical  Records 

Ixjslie's  signature  is  a  letter,  of  of  the  Family  of  Leslie,  where  (III.  867) 

date  Sept.  8,  1640,  addressed  by  Leslie,  there  is  a  quotation  from  Lord  HaiK-s, 

Rothos,  Montrose,  and  five  other  Cove-  commenting  on  Leslie's  signature  to  a 

nantinu'  chiufs,  to  the  Lord  Mayor  and  famous  public  letter  <>f  tin?  year  1639 

Al.l.rrnon  of  London.    I  ought  to  men-  in  these  terms,   "Tin:  subscription  <-f 

lion.  lu>wuvur,  that  the  tradition  as  to  General  Leslie  is  so  awkward  and  mis- 


56  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

When  the  Scots  should  march  to  meet  the  King,  there  must 
be  no  impediments  left  in  their  rear.  Hence,  towards  the  end 
of  March,  the  simultaneous  seizing  or  securing  by  stratagem, 
or  by  an  easy  show  of  force  without  bloodshed,  of  such  castles 
as  were  or  might  be  held  for  the  King, — Edinburgh  Castle, 
Dalkeith  Palace,  Stirling  Castle,  Dumbarton  Castle,  and  all 
the  border  strongholds  except  Caerlaverock.  Argyle  himself, 
going  to  the  Isle  of  Arran,  took  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton's 
castle  of  Brodick,  and  otherwise  settled  that  western  region 
against  the  dreaded  invasion  of  Antrim's  Irish.  There  was 
harder  work  in  Aberdeenshire,  where  the  Marquis  of  Huntley 
was  doing  his  best  for  the  King.  But,  a  force  of  9,000  Cove- 
nanters having  marched  from  the  more  southern  shires,  under 
the  Earls  of  Montrose,  Marischal  and  Kinghorn,  and  Leslie 
following  with  a  siege-train,  and  some  2,000  Covenanting 
Eorbeses,  Erasers,  &c.,  having  at  the  same  time  risen  in 
Aberdeenshire  itself,  Huntley  was  obliged  to  flee  from  Aber- 
deen to  his  own  estates  in  Strathbogie  (March  25),  leaving 
the  city  to  the  mercy  of  the  foe.  Then  was  a  sore  sight 
in  the  town.  "  Some,"  says  the  local  historian  Spalding, 
"  fled  with  their  wives  and  bairns ;  among  others,  there 
"  fled  to  sea  about  sixty  of  our  bravest  men  and  youths  of 
"  Aberdeen,  well  armed  with  sword,  musket  and  bandelier, 
"  as  excellent  cavaliers.  They  took  one  of  the  town's  colours, 
"  and  John  Park,  their  drummer,  with  them,  and  resolved  to 
"  go  to  the  King."  In  the  same  ship  went  most  of  the  Aber- 
deen Doctors,  and  the  Lairds  of  Drum  and  Pitfoddels.  They 
had  hardly  departed  when  the  invading  force  of  11,000 
Covenanters,  all  wearing  the  blue  ribbon  of  the  Covenant 
in  opposition  to  the  red  ribbon  of  Huntley's  adherents, 
entered  and  surrounded  the  town,  to  take  vengeance  upon 
its  remaining  citizens  by  fines,  a  stringent  imposition  of  the 

shapen  that  it  confirms  the  tradition  of  copy  of  it.     On  referring  to  that  copy 

his  being  absolutely  illiterate."     lean-  I  see  that  the  letters  are  peculiarly 

not  account  for  this  discrepancy,  and  shaped  ;  but  the  peculiarity  is  certainly 

Lord  Hailes  is  an  unusually  strict  au-  not  that  of  defective  education.     It  is 

thority  ;  but  I  rather  fancy  I  am  right.  as  if  Leslie  had  practised  a  square  dis- 

I  took  particular  note  of  Leslie's  signa-  tinct  hand  while  abroad.     I  adhere  to 

ture,  precisely  because  it  contradicted  the  words  "neat  and  picturesque." 
the  tradition ;   and  I  have  a  kind  of 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "BISHOPS'  WAK."  57 

Covenant,  and  various  other  harsh  measures.  The  Marquis 
of  Huntley  himself,  pursued  into  Strathbogie,  and  obliged  to 
surrender,  was  sent  to  Edinburgh,  with  his  eldest  son,  Lord 
Gordon,  where  they  were  imprisoned  in  the  Castla  Viscount 
Aboyne,  the  Marquis's  second  son,  and  some  others  of  the 
family,  contrived,  however,  to  remain  at  large  in  Aberdeen- 
shire  ;  so  that,  after  the  Covenanting  force  had  withdrawn, 
leaving  only  a  garrison  in  Aberdeen,  that  region  continued  to 
be  disturbed.  It  was  in  that  far-off  region,  indeed,  that  there 
was  the  first  actual  bloodshed  in  the  long  Civil  War  of  Great 
Britain  which  was  now  beginning.  As  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, the  first  person  actually  slain  in  the  war  was  a  poor 
fellow  named  David  Pratt,  a  farm-servant  of  the  Aberdeen- 
shire  family  of  the  Gordons  of  Gicht,  the  maternal  ancestors 
of  Lord  Byron.  They  were  Anti-Covenanters,  and  he  was 
shot  dead  in  a  chance  skirmish  with  some  of  the  other  side 
at  a  place  called  Towie,  some  eight-and-twenty  miles  from 
Aberdeen.  Skirmishes  in  those  unpoliced  parts,  now  that 
there  was  so  good  a  pretext  for  them,  were  the  easiest 
things  in  nature,  and  added  to  the  rough  fun  of  exist- 
ence. One  such  skirmish,  a  day  or  two  after  David  Pratt 
fell,  was  on  a  considerable  scale  and  attained  to  the  dignity 
of  a  name.  A  number  of  the  known  Covenanting  lairds 
of  the  district,  with  Lord  Fraser  and  the  Master  of  Forbes 
at  their  head,  having  announced  that  they  would  hold  a 
demonstration  for  the  Covenant  at  Turriff,  a  small  town 
on  the  steep  bank  of  the  river  Deveron,  where  it  divides 
Aberdeenshire  from  Banffshire,  and  having  assembled  with 
their  retainers  to  the  number  of  1200  men,  were  attacked 
there  by  an  equal  force  of  the  opposite  party,  who  had 
brought  field-pieces  for  the  purpose.  After  some  resistance, 
the  Covenanters  fled,  the  alacrity  of  their  retreating  move- 
ments being  assisted  both  by  the  steepness  of  the  braes  and 
by  the  shots  from  the  field-pieces.  This  "  Trot  of  Turriff," 
as  it  came  to  be  called  (May  14,  1639),  though  a  laugh- 
able affair  in  itself,  is  rather  memorable  as  the  first  field- 
action  of  the  Civil  War.  In  the  present,  or  first  Scottish, 
stage  of  that  war,  at  all  events,  neither  Arundel's  army 


58  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

nor  Hamilton's  fleet  was  to  do  anything  for  the  King  half 
so  good.1 

Both  army  and  fleet  were  by  this  time  ready,  and  almost 
in  station,  for  service.  Through  the  months  of  March  and 
April  the  levies  from  all  parts  of  England  and  Wales  had 
been  on  the  march  along  the  roads,  drawing  to  their  rendez- 
vous in  the  north.  But  never  had  an  English  army  been  on 
march  on  a  business  for  which  it  had  less  heart,  and  never 
along  the  roads  and  through  the  villages  of  England  had  an 
army  been  seen  marching  with  less  pleasure  by  the  people 
from  which  it  had  been  drawn.  It  had  been  ordered  that 
there  should  be  prayers  in  all  the  English  churches  for  the 
King's  success,  but  the  responses  can  have  been  but  faint. 
In  the  ranks  of  the  army  the  signs  of  reluctance  were 
manifest.  "  I  found  some  of  these  trained  soldiers/'  writes 
the  Earl  of  Lindsey,  who  had  a  command  in  it,  to  Secretary 
Windebank,  April  9,  "  very  unwilling  to  go  along,  so  as  at 
"  Boston  a  woman  presented  me  with  the  great  toe  of  her 
"  husband  in  a  handkerchief,  which  he  had  cut  off  that  he 
"  might  not  be  able  to  march." 2  March,  however,  they 
must.  The  King  was  already  before  them.  Leaving  London 
on  the  2  7  th  of  March,  he  had  reached  York  on  the  3  0  th.  Here 
he  remained  a  full  month,  holding  Court,  receiving  local  depu- 
tations and  the  Lords  and  courtiers  whom  he  had  summoned 
to  meet  him  there,  and  administering  to  them  the  military 
oath.  Lords  Saye  and  Sele  and  Brooke,  who  had  attended 
the  summons,  but  who  had  refused  the  oath,  were  committed 
to  custody.  Proclamations  also  were  sent  into  Scotland,  with 
offers  of  pardon  to  those  who  should  submit.  After  these 
preliminaries  at  York,  the  King  moved  on  (April  29)  to 
Durham,  and  thence  to  Newcastle.  The  plan  was  that 
he  should  remain  at  Newcastle  till  Hamilton's  fleet  from  the 
Thames  had  passed  the  coast  of  Berwickshire,  and  begun 
operations.  When  these  operations  had  some  success, 
the  army  was  to  advance  to  the  border,  and  either  invade 
Scotland,  or  give  battle  to  any  Scottish  army  that  might  bar 

1  Baillie,  I.  195  et  seq.  ;  Eushworth,       Chambers's  Domestic  Annals  of  Scot- 
Ill.  906—908  ;  Spalding,  I.  149  et  seq.  ;       land,  II.  123-4.     2  MS.  letter  in  S.P.O. 


1638-39.]  MUST   «  UISHOPS'  WAR."  59 

the  way.  Hamilton's  fleet  passed  the  Berwickshire  coast  on 
the  2nd  of  May,  and  the  King  at  Newcastle  awaited  the 
result  with  some  anxiety.1 

The  result  was  next  to  nothing.  Had  Hamilton's  fleet 
sailed  from  the  Thames  a  month  or  six  weeks  earlier,  so  as  to 
have  gone  to  Aberdeen  while  yet  the  Marquis  of  Huntley  held 
that  town  and  its  neighbourhood  for  the  King,  something 
might  have  been  done.  But,  the  Covenanters  having  secured 
Aberdeen  and  taken  Huntley  prisoner,  this  plan  had  neces- 
sarily been  abandoned ;  and  the  fleet  had  to  confine  itself  to 
demonstrations  in  the  Firth  of  Forth.  They  were  only 
demonstrations.  To  the  messages  sent  ashore  to  the  magis- 
trates of  Leith,  and  to  the  Council  of  Covenanting  chiefs 
at  Edinburgh,  requiring  them  to  receive  the  Marquis  as 
King's  Commissioner  and  submit  to  him,  the  answer  was 
very  respectfully  in  the  negative.  They  let  him  cruise  about, 
and  they  even  refrained  from  trying  Colonel  Hamilton's 
"  fireworks  "  upon  his  ships ;  but  they  were  resolved  not  to 
permit  a  landing.  Such  messengers  of  his  as  they  allowed 
to  come  on  shore  were  guarded  through  the  streets  of  Leith, 
and  not  lost  sight  of  so  long  as  they  remained ;  parties  sent 
ashore  in  boats  at  any  point  for  fresh  water  were  met  by 
armed  opponents  breast-deep,  and  turned  back  ;  among  hun- 
dreds of  volunteer  hands  busy  in  strengthening  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Leith  and  the  approaches  to  Edinburgh  were  some 
"  ladies  and  gentlemen "  of  both  towns,  "  carrying  earth 
and  stones,"  and  "  refusing  no  labour " ;  and  conspicuous 
among  these  was  Hamilton's  own  mother,  the  Marchioness- 
Dowager.  She  went  about,  it  is  said,  "  armed  with  a  pistol, 
which  she  vowed  to  discharge  upon  her  own  son,  if  he  offered 
to  come  on  shore." 2  All  that  the  Marquis  could  do,  in  these 
circumstances,  was  to  cruise  about,  capturing  a  trading  vessel 
or  two,  till  his  men,  cooped  up  on  shipboard,  or  on  the  two 
si  null  islands  of  Inchcolm  and  Inchkeith,  began  to  die  of 
smallpox.  A  chance,  indeed,  occurred  to  him,  if  he  had  been 

i8palding,I.180;Ru*hworth,III.930.  in*  Hamilton  on  board  his  ship,  the 

MS.  letters  in  S.  P.  O.— one  of  Hni'iilm*  ;  tho  other  of  date  May  9,  to 

date  May  7.  t<>  Win. 1, -hank  iii  London,  Windchank,  from  l-Mw.ml  Norgate,  in 

from  M.  do  Vie.  a  political  agent  attend-  attendance  on  tho  King  at  Newcastle. 


60  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

quick  enough  to  avail  himself  of  it.  The  heroes  of  the 
"  Trot  of  Tux-riff/'  dashing  to  Aberdeen  immediately  after  that 
exploit,  and  joined  by  Lord  Lewis  Gordon,  the  third  son  of 
the  Marquis  of  Huntley,  repossessed  themselves  of  that  town, 
all  the  more  easily  because  of  the  incorrigible  royalist  tend- 
encies of  the  inhabitants  and  the  smallness  of  the  defence 
which  the  Covenanters  had  left.  As  Viscount  Aboyne,  Hunt- 
ley's  second  son,  had  gone  to  the  King  at  Newcastle,  and  was 
expected  to  return  with  the  commission  of  King's  Lieutenant 
in  the  north  in  his  father's  place,  it  is  possible  that,  if 
Hamilton's  fleet  had  left  the  Firth  of  Forth  for  Aberdeen 
even  as  late  as  the  middle  of  May,  that  town  might 
have  been  turned  to  account.  But  the  chance  was  lost. 
The  Earls  of  Montrose  and  Marischal,  speeding  back  to 
Aberdeen  with  some  5,000  Covenanters,  so  alarmed  Lewis 
Gordon  and  the  heroes  of  the  "  Trot  of  TurrifF "  that  they 
fled,  leaving  the  unfortunate  town  for  a  second  and  most 
severe  punishment  by  the  wearers  of  the  blue  ribbon  (May 
25).  In  especial,  as  the  ladies  of  Aberdeen  had,  out  of  con- 
tempt of  the  Covenant,  tied  its  colours  round  the  necks  of 
their  dogs,  there  was  a  great  slaughter  of  the  dogs  of  the  town. 
While  the  King  remained  at  Newcastle  and  Hamilton's 
fleet  was  in  the  Firth  of  Forth,  the  Scots,  still  anxious  to 
avoid  open  war,  made  their  last  efforts  for  peace.  Letters 
were  addressed  to  Hamilton,  as  their  countryman,  requesting 
his  mediation  with  the  King ;  letters  of  similar  purpose  were 
sent  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  whose  character  for  liberality  and 
fairness  stood  as  high  with  the  Scots  as  with  the  English ; 
nay,  the  services  of  messengers  and  mediators  of  a  humbler 
rank  were  gladly  used.  There  was,  for  example,  a  certain 
Dr.  Moysley,  Vicar  of  Newark,  who,  taking  an  interest  in 
the  Scottish  movement  and  wishing  to  observe  matters  with 
his  own  eyes,  had  gone  into  Scotland  on  a  tour  of  curiosity. 
He  had  been  going  about  for  some  weeks,  and  had  seen  a 
good  deal  of  the  Scottish  clerical  leaders,  who  found  him  a 
good,  simple,  candid  kind  of  man,  and  by  no  means  "  Canter- 
burian  "  in  his  views.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  found  them 
and  their  cause  by  no  means  so  bad  as  had  been  represented, 


1638-39.]  riRST  "BISHOPS*  WAR."  61 

and  professed  that,  though  he  had  no  commission,  yet,  as  an 
English  clergyman,  he  would  consider  it  his  duty,  on  his 
return  to  England,  "  to  give  the  King  better  information  " 
about  them.  To  this  good-natured  Vicar,  accordingly,  leaving 
Edinburgh  for  Newcastle  on  the  llth  of  May,  there  was 
entrusted  a  "  supplication  "  to  the  King,  drawn  up  by  Hen- 
derson in  very  "  submiss  "  terms,  together  with  letters  in  "  a 
stouter  style,"  drawn  up  by  Argyle,  to  the  Earls  of  Pembroke 
and  Holland.  And  the  Vicar  was  as  good  as  his  word.  He 
had  reached  Newcastle  and  delivered  his  letters  before  the 
17th  of  May;  on  which  day  I  find  Mr.  Edward  Norgate, 
clerk  or  secretary  to  Mr.  Secretary  Coke,  writing  as  follows 
from  Newcastle  to  Robert  Reade,  holding  the  same  office  to 
Secretary  Windebank  in  London :  "  I  met  with  Dr.  Moysley, 
"  Vicar  of  Newark,  who  seems  a  grave  and  well-spoken 
"  divine.  This  doctor  tells  me,  and  will  make  it  good  with 
"  the  loss  of  his  vicarage,  that,  during  his  fortnight's  stay  in 
"  Edinburgh,  he  never  heard  word  from  any  Scot  savouring 
"  of  disaffection  to  our  King  or  nation."  As  Norgate,  like 
his  master,  Mr.  Secretary  Coke,  was  no  friend  to  the  war,  he 
was  pleased  to  hear  such  a  report ;  but  he  could  not  help 
twitting  the  Doctor  a  little.  "  Seeing  the  Doctor,"  he  says, 
"  in  a  very  formal  and  canonical  priest's  coat,  I  asked  him  if 
"  he  durst  wear  that  in  Scotland."  The  Doctor  told  him  that, 
though  he  had  gone  about  a  great  deal  among  the  Presby- 
terians of  all  ranks,  and  though  he  had  been  taken  in  some 
places  for  a  bishop,  yet  he  had  received  not  the  least  affront. 
But  the  Doctor's  man,  who  was  by,  informed  Norgate  pri- 
vately that  his  master  was  deaf,  or  else  he  would  have  had 
a  different  story  to  tell  The  Scottish  women,  seeing  him 
pass  in  his  priest's  coat,  had  saluted  him  with  such  ejacula- 
tions as  "  If  thou  beest  a  Bishop,  the  Deil  hold  thy  head  ! " 

A  cauld  cast  on  thy  chaps  ! "  or  "  My  malison  on  thee !  "- 
the  Doctor  hearing  not  a  word,  or  taking  it  all  for  com- 
pliment.1 

Though   the  letters  brought  by  Dr.  Moysley  were  not 
without  some  effect,  the  King  resolved  that  it  would  be  best 

i  Letter  of  Norgate,  of  date  cited,  in  S.  P.  0.  ;  and  Baillio,  1. 207,  208. 


62  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

at  least  to  overawe  the  Scots  by  his  near  personal  presence. 
Leaving  Newcastle,  therefore,  he  arrived  with  his  Court  and 
Army,  on  the  28th  of  May,  at  Berwick,  where  there  was 
already  a  strong  garrison,  and  where  he  was  separated  but  by 
the  river  Tweed  from  the  rebellious  land  of  his  birth.  The 
camp  was  pitched  on  a  plain  or  haugh  of  the  Tweed,  at  a 
place  called  Birks,  about  two  miles  above  Berwick.  Here,  in 
the  midst,  stood  the  King's  pavilion,  and  round  it,  at  various 
distances,  the  tents  of  the  nobles  and  courtiers,  and  of  the 
inferior  officers  and  soldiers,  with  ensigns  of  different  colours 
flying.  The  total  of  the  troops,  besides  the  garrison  of 
Berwick,  was  19,614  foot  and  3,260  horse.  Arundel  was 
Lord-general  or  Commander-in-chief,  with  Essex  for  his  Lieu- 
tenant-general, Holland  for  his  Master  of  Horse,  Lord  New- 
port for  Master  of  Ordnance,  Lord  Goring  for  Lieutenant- 
general  of  Horse,  Lord  Wilmot  for  Commissary-general,  and 
Sir  Jacob  Astley  for  Sergeant-major-general.  Among  the 
commanders  of  horse-regiments  were  the  Earl  of  Newcastle, 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Montgomery,  Viscount  Grandison, 
Lord  Clifford,  Thomas  Fairfax,  and  the  witty  Sir  John  Suck- 
ling ;  and,  among  the  commanders  of  foot-regiments,  the 
Earl  of  Lindsey,  Sir  Ferdinando  Fairfax,  Lord  Barrymore,  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  Sir  William  Savile,  and  Sir  John  Hotham. 
Serving  under  these  in  the  horse-troops  or  as  subalterns  in 
the  foot-regiments  were  many  English  gentlemen  of  good 
families  and  estates.1  Had  the  King  chosen,  he  might  have 
had  the  services  also  of  a  good  many  of  the  refugee  Scots. 
These  refugee  Scots,  however,  not  being  favourites  in  the 
English  camp,  the  greater  number  of  them  had  been  required 

1  Rushworth,  III.  926, 927;  where  lists  Astley  £2  each;  Wilmot  £1  10s. 
of  the  regiments  and  their  commanders  Colonels  of  Foot  had  £1  a  day  each  ; 
are  given.  In  the  S.  P.  0.  are  many  lieut. -colonels  10s.  ;  captains  of  corn- 
documents  relating  to  the  northern  panies  6s.  ;  lieutenants  3s.  ;  ensigns 
army  and  the  camp  at  Birks — including  2s.  Qd.  ;  sergeants  and  drummers  Is.  ; 
the  "musters"  or  parchment  rolls  corporals  IQd. ;  and  each  private  soldier 
containing,  county  by  county,  the  8d.  In  the  Horse  the  pay  was  higher : 
names  of  all  the  poor  fellows  draughted  8s.  for  every  captain  ;  5s.  for  lieute- 
to  serve  in  this  expedition  of  Xerxes.  nants,  4s.  for  cornets,  3s.  for  corporals, 
From  the  same  sources  I  have  gathered  and  2s.  Qd.  for  every  private.  Army 
the  following  as  to  the  rates  of  pay  in  chaplains  and  physicians  had  6s.  Sd. 
the  army  per  diem  : — Arundel,  as  lord-  a  day  ;  chirurgeons  from  4s.  to  2s.  Qd.  ; 
general,  had  £10  a  day;  Essex  £6;  "  preachers  "  4s. ;  apothecaries  3s.  4e£. 
Holland  £5  ;  Newport  £4  ;  Goring  and 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "BISHOPS*   WAlt."  63 

either  to  shift  for  themselves  in  England,  or  to  return  to 
Scotland  to  be  of  what  use  they  could  in  their  respective 
districts.  Young  Viscount  Aboyne,  who  had  managed  to  reach 
the  King  at  Newcastle  by  a  coasting  boat  from  Aberdeenshire 
in  very  poor  guise,  did  obtain  the  King's  commission  to  return 
as  his  Lieutenant  in  the  North,  and,  along  with  this,  an  order 
to  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  to  see  him  conveyed  back  to 
Aberdeen,  with  such  Aberdonian  or  other  refugees  as  chose 
to  accompany  him,  and  with  such  help  in  the  shape  of  English 
soldiers  and  war-materials  as  could  be  spared  from  the  fleet. 

The  King's  advance  to  the  border  had  been  preceded  by  a 
proclamation  forbidding  the  Scots  to  approach  in  arms  within 
ten  miles  of  the  English  lines.  Willing  to  respect  this  order 
as  long  as  there  might  be  chance  of  accommodation,  Leslie 
had  fixed  the  head-quarters  of  the  Scottish  army  at  Dunglass, 
on  the  Haddingtonshire  coast,  about  3  0  miles  from  Edinburgh 
and  2  5  from  Berwick.  As  he  feared  nothing  so  much  for  his 
countrymen,  however,  as  a  policy  of  mere  blockade  or  inaction 
on  the  other  side,  which  should  waste  time  and  exhaust  the 
Scottish  resources,  he  had  made  up  his  mind,  if  necessary,  to 
take  the  initiative,  or,  as  Baillie  expresses  it,  to  "  make  a  bolt 
through  the  reek  and  get  a  grip  of  some  of  those  that  had 
first  kindled  the  fire  and  still  laid  fuel  to  it."  With  this  view, 
his  expresses  were  already  out  for  the  quick  assembly  at 
Dunglass  of  such  forces  as  were  still  delayed  in  the  north  or 
otherwise  dispersed.  Let  them  finish  with  the  King  first, 
and  there  would  be  time  to  reckon  with  the  Aberdonians 
afterwards  if  they  again  stirred  !  While  he  was  so  reasoning, 
two  little  movements  on  the  King's  side  gave  him  all  the 
pretext  he  wanted.  After  midnight,  on  the  31st  of  May,  the 
Lord-general  Arundel,  having  heard  of  an  intended  muster  of 
Covenanters  that  day  at  Dunse  in  Berwickshire,  some  miles 
from  the  English  camp,  and  thinking  it  would  be  a  good 
stroke  to  surprise  them,  took  the  road  secretly,  with  Holland, 
( Coring,  and  a  small  band  of  horse.  When,  about  daybreak, 
however,  they  reached  Dunse,  they  found  the  men  all  flown, 
and  only  women  and  children  in  an  uproar  of  fear.  Some  of 
them  went  so  far  as  to  cry  "  Deil  tak  Leslie,"  and  others  were 


64  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

down  on  their  knees,  imploring  the  General  "  not  to  burn 
their  houses  and  bring  in  Paperie."  On  Arundel's  courteously 
reassuring  them,  they  brought  "  wine,  ale,  pans  of  milk,  and 
such-like  trinkets  as  they  had,"  not  refusing  payment ;  and, 
as  nothing  more  was  to  be  done,  and  it  was  ascertained  indeed 
that  tidings  of  the  intended  visit  had  reached  Dunse  two 
hours  beforehand  (sent,  doubtless,  by  some  of  the  kindly 
Scottish  pages  about  the  King),  the  party  rode  back.  But, 
three  days  afterwards,  Holland,  repeating  the  exploit  for 
himself,  by  a  different  road,  and  on  a  larger  scale,  came  off  in 
even  a  sorrier  manner.  With  1,000  horse  and  3,000  foot  he 
had  got  as  far  as  Kelso,  when,  his  horse  being  at  the  moment 
a  mile  or  two  in  advance  of  his  foot,  he  became  aware  of 
the  presence,  not  of  Arundel's  old  women  of  Dunse,  but  of  a 
body  of  Scottish  horse  and  pikemen,  posted  on  and  by  the 
sides  of  the  road  at  the  entrance  to  the  town.  Appearances 
not  being  favourable,  Holland  called  a  halt,  and  ordered  a 
trumpet  to  advance  to  ask  who  they  were  that  lay  so  near 
the  King.  "  Whose  trumpet  are  you  ? "  was  the  Scottish 
answer.  "  My  Lord  Holland's  "  was  the  reply  ;  whereupon 
there  came  from  the  other  spokesman  the  information  that 
they  did  not  know  what  business  Lord  Holland  had  to  be 
there  asking  such  questions,  and  that  if  he  did  not  remove 
"  they  would  show  him  the  way."  Holland,  after  consulting 
with  his  officers,  took  the  advice  given  him,  and  retreated  at 
full  speed,  the  Scots  making  no  attempt  to  prevent  him.  His 
return  set  the  whole  camp  talking ;  and,  though  he  blamed 
Eoger  Witherington,  the  scoutmaster,  for  having  misled  him 
by  defective  information,  and  represented  the  body  of  Scots 
that  had  turned  him  back  as  10,000  at  the  least,  ill-natured 
people  gave  their  own  version  of  the  matter,  and  from  that 
day  the  story  of  his  Kelso  raid  was  never  forgotten  against 
him.  The  Scots  whom  he  had  met  were  a  band  under  Colonel 
Monro  and  Lords  Fleming  and  Erskine.1 

i  Baillie  I.  205—208  (with  letters  of  " Berwick,  June  3";  one  from  Sir 
Leslie  in  Appendix  to  Baillie,  438  et  Henry  Vane  to  Hamilton,  dated  "  June 
seq.) ;  and,  for  Arundel's  and  Hoi-  4";  and  another  from  Norgate  to 
land's  raids,  three  letters  in  S.  P.  0.  :  Reade,  dated  "June  5."  See  also  Rush- 
viz,  one  from  Norgate  to  Reade,  dated  worth,  III.  936. 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "BISHOPS'   WAR."  65 

The  Scottish  territory  having  been  invaded,  there  was  an 
end  to  the  rule  of  the  ten  miles'  distance  between  the  two 
camps.  If  that  rule  were  not  to  be  reciprocal,  the  King  had 
only  to  advance,  and  the  Scots  would  have  to  retreat  before 
him,  by  ten  miles  and  ten  miles,  till  they  reached  Johno'  Groat's. 
In  short,  Leslie  raised  his  camp  at  Dunglass,  and,  his  army 
having  been  swelled  by  the  last  levies  to  be  expected,  en- 
camped, on  the  4th  of  June,  on  Dunse  Law,  a  gentle  hill, 
of  no  great  size,  but  convenient  for  the  purpose,  near  the 
aforesaid  town  of  Dunse,  and  commanding  the  direct  road 
from  Berwick  to  Edinburgh.  The  two  armies  were  now 
within  six  or  seven  miles  of  each  other ;  and  the  King,  who 
had  received  no  warning  of  Leslie's  approach,  could  view  his 
rebel -subjects  and  their  movements  through  his  prospect - 
glass.1 

"  It  would  have  done  you  good,"  writes  Baillie  to  his  cousin 
Spang,  minister  at  Campvere  in  Holland,  "  to  have  casten 
"  your  eyes  athort  our  brave  and  rich  hill  as  often  as  I  did. 
"  Our  hill  was  garnished  on  the  top,  towards  the  south  and 
"  east,  with  our  mounted  cannon,  well  near  to  the  number  of 
"  forty,  great  and  small.  Our  regiments  lay  on  the  sides  of 
"  the  hill,  almost  round  about,  the  total  number  being  about 
"  20,000  men.  The  crowners  lay  in  kennous  [canvas] 
"  lodges,  high  and  wide ;  their  captains  about  them  in  lesser 
"  ones  ;  the  sojours  about  all,  in  huts  of  timber,  covered  with 
"  divot  [turf]  or  straw.  Our  crowners  for  the  most  part  were 
"  noblemen.  Rothes,  Lindsay,  Sinclair,  had  among  them  two 
"  full  regiments  at  least  from  Fife ;  Balcarras  a  horse-troop ; 
"  Loudoun,  Montgomery,  Erskine,  Boyd,  Fleming,  Kirkcud- 
"  bright,  Yester,  Dalhousie,  Eglintoun,  Cassilis,  and  others, 
"  either  with  whole  or  half  regiments."  Baillie  explains 
that  Montrose  was  absent  in  the  north,  and  that  Argyle  was 
not  in  the  camp  at  first,  but  came  in  a  few  days  with  an 
addition  of  Highlanders  to  those  already  in  the  camp.  "  Our 
"  captains,"  he  continues,  "  for  the  most  part  barons  or  gen- 
"  tlemen  of  good  note  ;  our  lieutenants  almost  all  sojours  who 
"  had  served  over  the  sea  in  good  charges :  every  company  ha«  1 , 

»  Rush  worth,  III.  937,  and  Baillie,  I.  210. 
VOL  II  F 


66  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

"  flying  at  the  captain's  tent-door,  a  brave  new  colour,  stamped 
"  with  the  Scottish  arms,  and  this  ditton,  TOR  CHRIST'S 
"  CROWN  AND  COVENANT/  in  golden  letters."  Of  the  soldiers 
he  says  that  they  "  were  all  lusty  and  full  of  courage,  the 
most  of  them  stout  young  ploughmen."  Though  there  was 
difficulty  in  obtaining  money  enough  from  Edinburgh  to 
give  them  "  their  sixpence  a  day  "  regularly,  there  was  little 
discontent  on  that  score,  from  the  abundance  of  provisions. 
"  Our  meanest  sojours  was  always  served  in  wheat-bread,  and 
"  a  groat  would  have  gotten  them  a  lamb-leg ;  which  was  a 
"  dainty  world  to  the  most  of  them."  Moreover,  "  every  one 
"  encouraged  another ;  the  sight  of  the  nobles  and  their  be- 
"  loved  pastors  daily  raised  their  hearts";  and  there  were  "  the 
"  good  sermons  and  prayers,  morning  and  even,  under  the  roof 
"  of  heaven,  to  which  the  drums  did  call  them  for  bells,"  and 
"  the  remonstrances  very  frequent  of  the  goodness  of  their 
"  cause,  and  of  their  conduct  hitherto  by  a  hand  clearly  divine." 
For  the  officers  there  were  more  special  "  ecclesiastic  meet- 
ings "  in  Rothes's  tent.  Military  meetings  or  councils  of  war 
were  held  at  Leslie's  quarters  in  the  Castle  of  Dunse  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill.  Here,  surrounded  by  a  guard  of  some 
hundreds  of  Edinburgh  lawyers  armed  as  musketeers,  Leslie 
kept  open  table  at  his  own  charge ;  in  which  custom  he  was 
imitated  by  some  of  the  nobles.  Every  night  Leslie  himself 
and  his  Lieutenant-general  Baillie  rode  the  rounds  of  the 
camp  and  saw  to  the  setting  of  the  watches.  The  faith  in 
Leslie  was  unbounded.  "We  were  feared,"  says  Baillie, 
"  that  emulation  among  our  nobles  might  have  done  harm, 
"  when  they  should  be  met  in  the  fields ;  but  such  was  the 
"  wisdom  and  authority  of  that  old  little  crooked  soldier 
"  that  all,  with  ane  incredible  submission,  from  the  beginning 
"  to  the  end,  gave  over  themselves  to  be  guided  by  him, 
"  as  if  he  had  been  Great  Solyman."  In  fine,  all  was  in 
such  perfect  condition,  physically  and  morally,  that  the  good 
minister  of  Kilwinning  had  never  felt  himself  before  in  so 
"  sweet,  meek,  humble,  yet  strong "  a  frame  of  spirit,  and 
could  then  and  there  willingly  have  died.1 

i  Baillie,  I.  211— 214. 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "  BISHOPS'  WAR,"  67 

The  dim  vision  which  Charles  had  of  the  Scottish  army 
through  his  prospect-glass  was  not  reassuring.  Of  the  utter 
disorder  and  demoralization  of  his  own  army  he  could 
have  no  doubt.  The  commissariat  arrangements  were  so 
wretched  that,  as  he  went  about  looking  at  the  men  trenching 
for  a  new  camp,  he  was  saluted  with  cries  for  bread  and 
drink,  and  had  to  send  for  twenty  or  thirty  cartloads  of  both 
on  the  spot.  The  men  were  so  unhandy  in  the  use  of  their 
arms  that  already  a  shot  from  one  musket  had  gone  through 
the  royal  tent  The  officers  were  mostly  "  discomposed  and 
unready  " ;  of  which  there  was  as  free  talk  among  the  men  "as 
if  they  were  in  Bantam."  The  very  clerks  and  other  attend- 
ants on  the  King  were  wishing  that  they  were  back  in  West- 
minster.1 The  nobles  and  chief  officers,  in  whose  readiness 
to  serve  him  he  could  most  fully  trust,  could  give  him  no 
hope ;  and  there  were  others  of  whose  disinclination  to  the 
expedition  from  the  first  he  was  well  aware.  Then  there 
was  all  England  behind  him,  equally  indisposed,  with  but 
few  exceptions,  and  the  Puritans  more  especially  applauding 
Lord  Saye  and  Sele  and  Lord  Brooke  for  withstanding  him 
to  his  face.  In  short,  most  reluctantly  after  having  come  so 
far  and  made  such  a  display  of  "  the  kingly  way,"  he  had 
to  conclude  that  a  reconciliation  with  the  Scots  would  be 
advisable.2  The  question  then  was  how  to  bring  this  about 
with  the  least  loss  to  his  kingly  dignity.  About  that  there 
was  not  much  difficulty.  There  had  been  more  coming  and 
going  between  the  two  camps  than  he  was  aware  of;  and 
so,  when,  on  the  5th  of  June,  one  Robin  Leslie,  a  Scottish 
page  of  the  King's,  presented  himself  at  Dunse  Castle,  where 
Leslie  and  the  Scottish  chiefs  were  holding  consultation,  and 
made  a  suggestion  to  them,  as  if  purely  out  of  his  own  head, 
that  they  should  try  another  supplication  to  the  King,  the 
hint  was  at  once  understood.  "  Had  we  been  ten  times  vic- 
"  torious  in  set  battles,"  says  Baillie, "  it  was  our  conclusion  to 
"  have  laid  down  our  arms  at  his  feet,  and  on  our  knees  pre- 
"  sen  ted  nought  but  our  first  supplications.  We  had  no  other 

»  Lettow  from  Norgate,  from  the  *  Letter  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  to 
camp,  to  Hondo  in  London,  of  dates  Hamilton,  of  date  Juno  4,  givon  in 
May  28  and  Juno  3,  in  tl,.  s.  I'.  <  >.  Riwhworth,  III.  936. 


68  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

"  end  of  our  wars ;  we  sought  no  crowns ;  we  aimed  not  at 
"  lands  and  honours  to  our  party ;  we  desired  but  to  keep 
"  our  own  in  the  service  of  our  Prince,  as  our  ancestors  had 
"  done  ;  we  loved  no  new  masters  :  had  our  throne  been  void, 
"  and  our  voices  sought  for  the  filling  of  Fergus's  chair,  we 
"  would  have  died  ere  any  other  had  sitten  down  on  that 
"  fatal  marble  but  Charles  alone."  -1  In  short,  from  that  day 
began  a  series  of  negotiations,  which,  continued  over  some 
twelve  days,  with  various  ebbings  and  flowings  according  to 
the  ups  and  downs  of  the  King's  mood,  issued,  on  Tuesday 
the  18th  of  June,  in  a  formal  Pacification. 

The  stages  of  the  negotiation  may  be  noted.  First,  on  the 
6th  of  June,  the  young  Earl  of  Dunfermline  was  sent  to  the 
English  camp,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  with  a  "  supplication  "  to 
the  King,  and  letters  to  the  English  Privy  Councillors  in 
camp  requesting  their  good  offices  with  his  Majesty.  Next 
Sir  Edmund  Verney,  Knight  Marshal,  returned  to  the  Scottish 
camp  with  Dunfermline,  and  a  letter  dictated  by  Mr.  Secre- 
tary Coke,  requiring  certain  submissions  ere  the  King  would 
treat.  These  submissions  having  been  arranged,  or  got  over  with 
some  ingenuity  on  both  sides,  the  Earls  of  Eothes  and  Dun- 
fermline, Lord  Loudoun,  and  Sir  William  Douglas  of  Cavers 
went  over,  as  Commissioners  for  the  Scots,  under  safe-conduct, 
and  had  an  interview,  in  Arundel's  tent,  with  Arundel  himself, 
Essex,  Holland,  the  Earls  of  Salisbury  and  Berkshire,  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  and  Secretary  Coke.  While  they  were  conversing,  they 
were  surprised  and  somewhat  flurried  by  the  sudden  appear- 
ance of  the  King  himself.  He  walked  in,  and  began  talking  to 
them  in  such  a  way  that  they  had  some  difficulty  in  reconciling 
their  duty  to  their  constituents  with  the  forms  of  respect  due 
to  the  royal  reasoner.  "  Sure  I  am,"  he  said,  "  you  are  never 
"  able  to  justify  all  your  actions ;  the  best  way,  therefore, 
"  were  to  take  my  word  and  submit  all  to  my  judgment." 
Not  too  much  affected  by  such  majestic  nonsense,  the  Scottish 
Commissioners,  remaining  to  dine  with  Arundel,  were  able  to 
put  some  terms  on  paper  on  that  day.  Subsequent  meetings 
having  been  held,  in  which  Henderson  and  Archibald  John- 

1  Baillie,  I.  215. 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "  BISHOPS'  WAR."  69 

stone  were  added  to  the  number  of  the  Scottish  Commis- 
sioners, and  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  and  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke  to  that  of  the  English  Commissioners,  while  the 
King  now  regularly  sat  among  them  and  discussed  everything 
in  a  business-like  manner,  there  emerged  at  last  a  perfect 
treaty.  Nothing  was  more  surprising  in  these  conferences 
than  the  liking  which  the  King  seemed  to  show  for  Hen- 
derson. Kothes  and  Loudoun  seemed  to  be  the  other  favour- 
ites, and  he  gave  all  the  six  Commissioners  his  hand  to 
kiss  at  parting ;  but  Henderson  made  the  greatest  impres- 
sion. And  not  on  the  King  only,  but  on  all  the  English 
courtiers.  "  For  Hyndersham,"  writes  Norgate,  "  he  is  of  all 
"  highly  commended  for  a  grave,  pious,  and  learned  man. 
"  He  hath  made  one  at  every  conference,  and  Mr.  Secretary 
"  [Coke]  tells  me  that  in  all  his  speeches  you  may  find  as 
"  much  devotion,  wisdom,  humility,  and  obedience  as  can  be 
"  wished  for  in  an  honest  man  and  a  good  subject."  Some- 
thing of  this  admiration  of  Henderson  seems  to  have  been 
reflected  upon  all  his  brethren  of  the  Scottish  Kirk.  Not 
at  all  "  incendiaries,"  but  men  who  "  can  say  grace  longer 
"  and  better  than  our  cainpestrial  chaplains  who  ride  before 
"  our  regiments  taking  tobacco,"  is  Norgate's  half-jocose 
report  of  the  Earl  of  Stamford's  opinion  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministers,  formed  during  a  visit  he  had  paid  to  the  Scottish 
camp.  And,  as  the  Scottish  Covenanting  clergy  had  risen 
in  favour,  so  the  Scottish  bishops  and  their  clerical  ad- 
herents had  fallen.  Everybody  was  "  blessing  them  back- 
wards," as  the  cause  of  the  whole  trouble ;  and  such  of  them 
as  were  in  the  English  camp  went  about  in  sore  plight,  the 
King  himself  "  weary  of  them,"  and  putting  them  off  with 
£10  or  so  apiece,  "the  whole  Court  hating  them,"  and  the 
pages  "  publicly  jeering  at  them."  Of  all  of  them  Baillie 
most  pitied  poor  Dr.  Barron  of  Aberdeen,  who  never  held  up 
his  head,  but  died  at  Berwick  ere  a  fortnight  was  over.1 

»  Baillio,  I.  216,  217,  and  220,  221  ;  and  another  (June  13)  a  kind  of  vor- 

Stoveiwon,  376,  377  ;   Hush  worth,  III.  batim   report  of  the   King's  dialogue 

937—943 ;  and  official  memoranda  of  with  the  Scottish  deputies ;  also  Let- 

the  Conferences  in  too  8.  P.  O.,— one  tors  of  Norgate   to  Reado,   of  dates 

being  a  "Journal  of  the  Pacification,"  Juno  15  and  Juno  19,  in  S.  P.  0. 


70  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

The  "  Pacification  of  Birks,"  as  it  was  called,  was  embodied 
in  two  documents.  One  was  a  Royal  Declaration,  in  which  his 
Majesty,  while  guarding  himself  against  bSing  supposed  to  ap- 
prove the  acts  of  "  the  pretended  Assembly  "  at  Glasgow,  or  of 
"  the  pretended  Tables,"  did  nevertheless  substantially  promise 
all  that  was  claimed.  He  promised  the  future  regulation  of 
all  ecclesiastical  and  civil  affairs  in  Scotland  by  free  annual 
Assemblies  of  the  Kirk  and  free  Parliaments  of  the  realm  :  one 
such  Assembly  to  be  held  on  the  6th  of  August,  and  one  such 
Parliament  on  the  20th  of  August  immediately  following,  at 
both  of  which  his  Majesty  hoped,  God  willing,  to  be  personally 
present.  The  other  document,  entitled  Articles  of  Pacifica- 
tion, consisted  of  eight  Articles,  relating  to  the  immediate 
disbanding  of  the  two  armies,  and  the  mutual  restoration  of 
persons,  goods,  ships,  &c.,  seized  on  either  side, — one  Article 
providing  for  the  resurrender  to  the  King  of  his  castles  and 
forts  in  Scotland.1  Any  demur  to  the  terms  of  these  Articles 
was  rather  on  the  Scottish  side  than  on  the  English  ;  and 
when,  on  the  24th  of  June,  the  English  army  was  disbanded, 
it  was,  says  Norgate,  like  the  "  break-up  of  a  school."  2  Less 
polite  to  the  Scots  than  Norgate's  words  on  the  occasion,  but 
equally  to  the  purpose,  are  those  of  Thomas  Windebank, 
eldest  son  of  Secretary  Windebank,  and  in  attendance  on  the 
King  as  groom  of  the  chamber.  "  We  have  had,"  he  says, 
in  a  letter  from  the  camp  to  his  cousin  Reade  in  London 
after  the  Peace  was  concluded,  "  a  most  cold,  wet,  and  long 
"  time  of  it ;  but  we  kept  our  soldiers  warm  with  the  hopes 
"  of  rubbing,  fubbing,  and  scrubbing  those  scurvy,  filthy, 
"  dirty,  nasty,  lousy,  itchy,  scabby,  slovenly,  snotty-nosed, 
"  loggerheaded,  foolish,  insolent,  proud,  beggarly,  impertinent, 
"  absurd,  grout -headed,  villainous,  barbarous,  bestial,  false, 
"  lying,  roguish,  devilish,  long-eared,  short-haired,  damnable, 
"  atheistical,  Puritanical  crew  of  the  Scotch  Covenant.  But 
"  now  there  is  peace  in  Israel." 3 


1  Rushworth,    III.    943  —  946;    and  June   22."      I    have    omitted  two    of 
Baillie,  I.  217,  218.  Windebank's  adjectives  as  unpresent- 

2  Letter  to  Reade  in  S.  P.  0.  able.    We  shall  hear  of  the  Windebank 

3  Letter  in  S.  P.  0.  dated  "Berwick,  family  again. 


1638-39.]  FIRST  "BISHOPS*  WAR."  71 

A  very  precarious  peace  it  was.  Hardly  had  the  treaty 
been  concluded  when  the  King's  ill  humour  with  it  began  to 
show  itself.  For  about  a  month,  indeed,  he  remained  at 
Berwick,  consulting  about  Scottish  affairs  with  Rothes,  Argyle, 
Montrose,  and  others  of  the  Covenanting  leaders,  summoned 
thither  to  meet  him.  But  these  consultations,  on  his  side, 
were  changed  into  reproaches.  In  consequence  of  the  popular 
discontent  in  Scotland  arising  from  the  phrases  "  pretended 
Assembly  "  and  "  pretended  Tables  "  used  by  the  King  in  his 
Declaration,  and  from  the  too  great  advantages  seemingly 
given  to  the  King  in  some  of  the  Articles  of  the  treaty,  it  had 
been  found  necessary  to  accompany  the  formal  proclamations 
of  the  treaty  in  Scottish  towns  with  certain  "  informations 
against  mistaking  the  same."  Of  these  Charles  spoke  as 
"  seditious  glosses  " ;  and  he  was  very  quarrelsome  on  account 
of  them,  not  only  with  Rothes,  Argyle,  and  Montrose,  but 
also  with  the  Earls  of  Pembroke  and  Salisbury,  and  some 
others  of  the  English  Commissioners,  who  were  accused  of 
having  abetted  the  Scots  in  their  private  dealings  with  them. 
At  all  events,  he  could  not  think  of  now  countenancing  Scot- 
land so  far  as  to  go  to  Edinburgh  to  open  the  Assembly  and 
the  Parliament  as  he  had  intended.  Accordingly,  having 
appointed  Traquair  as  his  Commissioner  for  that  duty 
(Hamilton  positively  refusing  to  serve  in  the  office  again),  he 
turned  his  back  to  Scotland  on  the  29th  of  July  ;  and  on  the 
3rd  of  August  he  was  again  at  Whitehall.1 

i  There  ore  more  detailed  accounts  Among  the  last  is  a  correspondence 

of  the  King's  conduct  at  Berwick  after  between  Secretary  Windobank  and  the 

the  Peace  in  Baillie,  I.  220,  221,  Sto-  Earls  of  Pembroke  and  Salisbury  relnt- 

venson,   384   et  «eo..   Rushworth.   III.  ing  to  their  alleged  complicity  with 

946  et  *q.,  and  inMSS.  in  the  a  P.  0.  the  Scots. 


CHAPTEE    II 

MILTON  BACK  IN  ENGLAND OLD  FRIENDS EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS 

LODGINGS   IN   ST.    BRIDE'S   CHURCHYARD. LITERARY  PROJECTS 

MILTON'S  SISTER  AND  HIS  TWO  NEPHEWS. 

MILTON  may  have  received  the  news  of  the  conclusion  of  the 
King's  War  with  the  Scots  either  at  Geneva  or  at  Paris ;  in 
which  last  city  there  appeared  an  official  gazette,  of  date 
July  20,  1639,  containing  Le  Traitt  fait  entre  le  Eoy  de  la 
Grande  Bretagne  et  les  Ecossois  du  Covenant.1  Crossing  to 
Dover,  he  was  back  in  London,  or  probably  in  his  father's 
house  at  Horton,  Buckinghamshire,  almost  exactly  at  the 
time  when  the  Londoners  were  receiving  Charles  back  from 
his  unsuccessful  northern  expedition. 

At  Horton,  Milton  found  little  changed.  His  father  was 
still  there,  going  about  hale  as  usual ;  and  his  younger 
brother,  Christopher,  and  Christopher's  young  wife  Thomasine, 
in  whose  charge  he  had  left  the  old  man,  were  still  residing 
under  the  paternal  roof.  Christopher  was  not  yet  called  to  the 
bar,  though  he  had  been  for  nearly  seven  years  a  student  of 
the  Inner  Temple.  Of  one  little  appearance  and  disappear- 
ance in  the  Horton  household  during  his  absence  Milton 
would  now  hear  both  from  the  old  man  and  the  young,  and 
also,  more  sadly,  from  the  young  wife.  Examining  the  Horton 
parish-register,  I  came,  not  without  some  feeling  myself,  upon 
this  entry: — "  1639  :  An  infant  sonne  of  Christopher  Milton, 
gent.,  buried  March  ye  2  6thi"  It  is  the  small  remaining  record 
now  of  the  existence  of  a  little  nephew  of  Milton's,  the  first- 
born of  Christopher  and  his  wife,  who  had  died  without 

1  There  is  a  copy  of  this  gazette  in       impression    made    abroad    by    recent 
the  S.  P.  0.    Both  Charles  and  Winde-       events  in  Britain, 
bank  were  evidently  anxious  about  the 


1639-40.]  MILTON  BACK  IN  ENGLAND.  73 

having  lived  long  enough  to  have  a  name,  or  to  have  been 
seen  by  his  uncle.  They  had  laid  the  little  body,  I  suppose, 
in  the  same  grave,  in  the  chancel  of  the  church  close  by, 
where  Milton  had  seen  his  mother  buried  two  years  before, 
and  the  plain  blue  stone  covering  which,  and  inscribed  with 
the  name  and  the  date  of  the  death,  is  now  the  most  sacred 
object  in  that  quiet  rustic  church.  The  Rector  of  the  parish, 
Mr.  Goodall,  who  had  entered  the  little  burial  in  the  register, 
had  himself,  as  another  entry  in  his  hand  proves,  had  a  new 
little  one  born  to  him  in  the  Rectory.1  In  the  colony  of  the 
Bulstrodes,  already  known  to  us  as  the  chief  people  of  Horton, 
and  as  living  partly  in  the  manor-house  with  Squire  Henry 
Bulstrode  and  partly  in  adjacent  houses,  there  had  been  a 
very  recent  death.2  But,  indeed,  the  deaths  in  Horton  seem 
at  that  time,  and  chiefly  from  mortality  among  infants,  to 
have  been  preponderating  over  the  births.  Against  2  8  burials 
in  the  year  1638,  and  27  in  the  year  1639,  I  read  in  the 
registers  of  but  13  christenings  and  10  christenings  respect- 
ively. The  Horton  marriages  for  1638  are  4,  and  for  1639 
they  are  6  ;  so  that  there  may  have  been  about  half-a-dozen 
weddings  in  the  place  while  Milton  was  abroad.  What 
other  little  incidents  of  the  familiar  neighbourhood  during 
his  absence  may  have  had  some  interest  for  him,  or  for  his 
serving-man,  after  their  return,  are  now  as  irrecoverable  as 
those  golden  days  of  an  English  autumn  that  again  beheld 
him  enjoying  the  rest  of  his  father's  house,  or  walking  amid 
the  richly-wooded  English  meadows  round  it,  with  the  towers 
of  Windsor  once  more  in  his  view. 

Would  not  one  of  his  first  walks,  in  the  direction  of  those 
towers,  be  to  Eton  College,  to  pay  his  respects,  after  his 
return,  to  that  good  old  Sir  Henry  Wotton  whose  acquaint- 
ance he  had  made  just  before  his  departure,  who  had  then 
spoken  so  handsomely  both  of  him  and  of  his  Comus,  who 
had  expressed  his  desire  that  they  might  yet  see  more  of 
each  other,  and  who  had  sent  after  him  so  thoughtfully  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  friends  in  Paris,  and  that  memorable  advice 

i  It  is  among  the  baptisms :  "  1639 :          *  "  ISAAC,  sonn  of  Edwardo  and  Mil- 
Anne,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Sarah       dred  Bulatrode,  buried  July  28th." 
Goodall,  bap.  May  28." 


74  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

for  his  behaviour  in  Italy,  the  fruit  of  his  own  former  diplo- 
matic experience  there,  "  I ' pensieri  stretti,  et  il  mso  sciolto  "  ? 1 
Alas !  the  good  old  Provost  of  Eton,  the  first  man  of  public 
mark  that  had  recognised  the  genius  of  Milton  in  what  we 
should  now  consider  fit  terms,  was  all  but  on  his  deathbed. 
As  late  as  the  spring  of  this  very  year  he  had  been  in  his 
usual  health,  taking  his  usual  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
day,  and  corresponding  as  usual  with  his  numerous  friends. 
He  had  been  following  with  anxiety  the  course  of  the  King's 
expedition  against  the  Scots,  had  been  reading  Dr.  Balcan- 
quhal's  "  Large  Declaration  "  of  the  grounds  which  the  King 
had  for  war  upon  his  Scottish  subjects,  and,  influenced  partly 
by  the  representations  of  that  work,  and  partly  by  the  habits 
of  thought  of  an  old  politician,  had  considered  the  cause  of 
the  Covenanters  very  untenable,  and  their  conduct  "very 
black."  2  He  had  set  out  from  Eton  on  his  usual  summer 
tour,  and  had  visited,  among  other  places,  Winchester  School, 
where  he  had  been  educated,  and  where  the  sight  of  the 
youngsters  playing  at  the  same  games  that  he  had  played  at 
sixty  years  before  pleased  his  benevolent  heart.  But  he  had 
scarcely  returned  to  Eton  when  asthma  and  other  infirmities 
laid  him  prostrate.  He  could  no  longer  go  abroad,  or  con- 
tinue his  wonted  hospitalities  within  doors,  or  even  enjoy 
his  favourite  solace  of  tobacco.  He  would  still  converse, 
indeed,  with  John  Hales,  and  other  fellows  of  the  College 
in  close  attendance  upon  him,  to  whom  he  was  leaving  the 
care  of  his  books,  pictures,  and  manuscripts.  Occasionally 
he  would  refer  to  public  affairs  ;  but  chiefly  he  confined  him- 
self, as  his  biographer  tells  us,  to  pious  retrospects  of  his  long 
and  chequered  life,  and  to  expressions  of  thanksgiving  to  God 
for  all  his  many  mercies.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether,  in 
these  circumstances,  Milton  could  have  had  access  to  him,  or 
whether,  if  Milton  did  see  him,  anything  more  could  have 
passed  than  the  merest  tokens  of  respectful  regret  on  the  one 
hand,  and  kindly  questionings  about  the  Italian  journey  on 
the  other.  Certain  it  is  that  that  renewal  of  their  acquaint- 

1  See  Vol.  I.  737—739.  1639,    in   Reliquice    WottoniancK   (edit. 

2  Letter  of  Wotton,  dated  April  21,       1685),  p.  580. 


1639-40.]  MILTON  BACK  IN  ENGLAND:   OLD    FRIENDS.  75 

ance  over  "  a  poor  meal  or  two,"  in  Sir  Henry's  rooms,  and 
in  the  company  of  their  common  friend  Mr.  Hales,  to  which 
Sir  Henry  had  looked  forward,  could  not  now  take  place. 
Sir  Henry  lingered  on  till  December ;  when  he  died,  in  his 
seventy-second  year.1 

Either  in  his  father's  house  at  Horton,  or  in  visits  to 
London,  Milton  might  obtain  information  respecting  old 
friends  and  acquaintances  now  dispersed.  His  first  preceptor, 
Thomas  Young,  was  still  in  his  vicarage  of  Stowmarket  in 
Suffolk,  watching  the  signs  of  the  times  with  the  feelings 
natural  to  an  English  Puritan  minister  who  had  not  forgotten 
his  Scottish  birth.  For  the  present,  indeed,  he  was  wearing 
the  surplice  which  his  parishioners  had  been  obliged  to 
provide  for  him,  to  avoid  the  censure  of  so  strict  a  diocesan 
as  Wren  of  Norwich ;  but  he  was  nursing  his  Puritan  prin- 
ciples nevertheless,  and  he  had  just  (1639)  given  proof  of 
them  in  a  thin  Latin  quarto,  printed  at  Ipswich  for  private 
circulation,  and  containing,  under  the  title  of  "Dies  Dominica" 
a  history  of  the  Sabbath,  and  a  vindication  of  the  Puritan 
idea  of  its  institution.  He  had  not  put  his  name  to  this 
treatise,  but  had  signed  himself  "  Theophilus  Philo-Kuriaces, 
Loncardiensis."  It  was  a  designation  the  meaning  of  which 
no  English  ingenuity  could  then  have  made  out,  but  in  which 
we  now  read  a  covert  assertion  of  his  sympathy  with  the 
struggle  in  his  native  land.  "  A  lover  of  the  Kirk  (or  perhaps 
rather  '  of  the  Lord's  Day ')  all  the  way  from  Luncarty  in 
Perthshire,  though  now  labouring  in  Suffolk  ", — this,  or  some- 
thing like  this,  is  the  meaning  that  Young,  in  fear  of  Wren  or 
of  Laud,  had  ingeniously  packed  up  in  the  uncouth-looking 
pseudonym.2 

There  was  no  such  necessity  for  secrecy  among  those 
other  old  friends  of  Milton,  most  of  them  also  of  the  clerical 

1  Izaak  Walton's  Life  of  Wotton.  rently  by  his  own  hand.    Tho  treatise 

2  Hollingworth's  Hist,  of  Stowmar-  consists  of  132  pages  of  Latin,  with 
ket  (1844),   pp.    187  —  194.     Young's  Greek  quotations.   It  i^doscribod  by  Mr. 
treatise  on  the  Sabbath  seems  to  be  Robert  Cox  in  his  work  The  Literature 
yery  scarce  ;  but  there  is  a  copy  of  it  in  of  the   Sabbath   Question  (Ed  in,    1865. 

:<nburgh  University  Library,  and  2  vols.),  to  whom  I  owe  the  suggestion 

Mr.  Hollingworth  describes  one  which  that  "  KuriaJce*  "  means  "  LorcTa  Day  " 

was  in  his  possession,  and  which  bore  rather   than    "Church"    or    "Lord's 

Young's   name  on   it,   written    appa-  House,"  as  I  had  hinted,  Vol.  I.  p.  68. 


76  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

profession,  who  were  associated  in  his  memory  with  his 
college -days  at  Cambridge.  While  he  had  been  abroad, 
Christ's  College  had  suffered  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  its 
famous  news-collector  and  Apocalyptic  commentator,  Joseph 
Meade.  He  had  died  on  the  1st  of  the  preceding  October,  in 
his  well-known  rooms  in  the  College,  in  the  chapel  of  which 
his  bones  still  rest.  Poorer  by  this  loss,  the  old  College  was 
otherwise  much  as  it  had  been  when  Milton  left  England. 
Bainbrigge  was  still  Master;  Power,  Siddall,  Honey  wood, 
Gell,  and  Alsop  were  still  among  the  Fellows ;  and  young 
Henry  More,  now  M.A.,  was  still  resident  in  the  College,  its 
recognised  hope  since  the  death  of  Edward  King,  and  with  a 
fellowship  in  prospect. 

Both  Milton's  tutors  at  Christ's,  as  the  reader  already 
knows,  had  left  the  College  several  years  before  Milton  had 
set  out  on  his  travels.1  Kespecting  them,  therefore,  his  in- 
formation would  necessarily  be  more  indirect.  Of  Tovey 
there  was  little  to  learn,  save  that  he  was  still  parson  of 
Lutterworth.  Chappell,  on  the  other  hand,  was  now  rather 
a  notorious  person  in  connexion  with  Wentworth's  Irish 
government.  Since  his  appointmeut  in  1 6  3  4  to  the  Provost- 
ship  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  on  the  nomination  of  Laud, 
there  had  been  a  continued  opposition  to  him  among  the 
undergraduates  and  junior  Fellows  of  the  College,  on  account 
of  his  so-called  "  Arminianising "  tendencies,  his  zeal  for 
Laudian  uniformity,  and  the  general  severity  of  his  manage- 
ment. The  Visitors  of  the  College,  among  whom  was  the 
Irish  Primate  Usher,  had  taken  up  the  feud,  and,  being 
mostly  Calvinists  or  adverse  to  Laud's  influence  in  Ireland, 
had  sided  rather  with  the  opposition  than  with  Chappell. 
The  Lords  Justices  in  Ireland  had  also  been  appealed  to 
officially ;  one  of  the  junior  Fellows,  named  Phesant,  who 
had  particular  grievances  against  Chappell,  and  whom  Laud 
styles  "  a  very  bold  young  man,"  had  gone  over  to  London 
to  urge  the  complaint ;  and  the  thing  had  grown  into  the 
dimensions  of  a  public  quarrel,  in  which  Laud  as  Chancellor 
of  Trinity  College,  Wentworth  as  Irish  Viceroy,  and  the  King 

1  Vol.  I.  pp.  128—131,  and  p.  692. 


1639-40.]       MILTON   BACK  IN  ENGLAND:    OLD  FRIENDS.  77 

himself  as  consulted  by  them,  were  resolute  in  standing  by 
rimppell,  against  Usher,  the  Visitors,  the  junior  Fellows  of 
the  College,  and  the  popular  opinion  of  Dublin.  The  parti- 
culars of  the  story  are  to  be  gathered  from  an  extensive 
correspondence  begun  as  early  as  September  1636,  and  not 
ended  at  the  time  at  which  we  have  now  arrived.  Laud, 
from  the  first,  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  his  client  most 
stoutly,  writing  over  to  Usher  that  he  was  astonished  that 
a  few  "  young  men  newly  started  up  from  boys  "  should  be 
allowed  to  cause  such  a  disturbance,  and  treating  the  special 
charges  against  Chappell, — his  Arminianism,  his  so-called 
"  idolatrical "  habit  of  making  obeisance  on  entering  church, 
his  zeal  for  the  new  statutes,  and  his  general  strictness, — as 
either  of  no  consequence,  or  actual  testimonies  to  his  merit 
What  Laud  thus  advised  by  letter,  Wentworth,  who  had  been 
absent  from  Ireland  at  the  outbreak  of  the  quarrel,  took  care 
to  carry  by  the  high  hand.  In  spite  of  Usher  and  the  other 
Visitors,  and  of  public  opinion  in  Dublin,  Wentworth  had  not 
only  maintained  Chappell  in  theProvostship,but  had  so  counte- 
nanced him  as  greatly  to  increase  his  unpopularity,  and  earn 
for  him  among  Irish  ultra- Protestants  the  reputation  of  being 
Laud's  chief  instrument  in  Ireland,  and  a  perfect  Canterbury 
in  miniature.  "  I  have  so  great  an  opinion  of  his  govern- 
"  ment  and  integrity,"  writes  Wentworth  to  Laud, "  that  I  am 
"  putting  my  own  son  thither  under  his  eye  and  care;  by 
"  which  you  will  judge  that  I  propose  not  to  have  him  one 
"  of  Prynne's  disciples."  Indeed,  Wentworth's  high  opinion 
of  Chappell  as  Provost  stood  in  the  way  of  Chappell's  pre- 
ferment to  a  Bishopric, — the  Provostship  being  so  important 
a  post,  and  Wentworth  knowing,  as  he  said,  of  no  man  so  fit 
for  it  if  he  lost  Chappell.  Here,  however,  Laud  looked  after 
the  interests  of  his  client,  who  ought  not,  as  he  said,  to 
suffer  from  his  own  excellence.  He  persuaded  the  King  to 
make  an  exception  in  that  particular  case  to  his  rule  in 
appointments  to  bishoprics,  and  to  promote  Chappell  to  the 
vacant  Irish  bishopric  of  Cloyne  and  Ross,  allowing  him 
still  to  retain  the  Provostship  in  commcndam.  This  pro- 
motion had  been  made  in  the  summer  of  1638,  and  the  last 


78  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

phase  in  the  Chappell  quarrel  had  been  a  remonstrance  on 
the  part  of  Usher  and  the  Irish  against  such  a  union  of  the 
Provostship  and  an  Irish  bishopric  in  the  same  hands.  It 
was  contrary  to  the  oath  in  Laud's  own  statutes  of  the 
College,  Usher  urged,  and  would  be  a  pernicious  precedent. 
Chappell,  he  understood,  was  willing  to  resign  the  Provost- 
ship  to  a  brother  of  his  who  was  then  "  keeping  "  with  him 
in  the  College.  If  there  were  objections  to  that  arrangement, 
why  not  offer  the  Provostship  to  that  worthy  man,  Mr.  Joseph 
Meade,  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge  (this  was  three  months 
before  Meade's  death),  whom  everybody  would  allow  to  be  fit 
for  it,  and  who,  indeed,  had  been  named  for  it  four  years 
before,  when  his  College-comrade,  Chappell,  got  it  ?  Or, 
there  was  another  Cambridge  man  who  would  do  very  well, 
— Mr.  Hewlett,  recently  fellow  and  tutor  of  Sidney- Sussex 
College,  but  now  in  Ireland ;  respecting  whose  qualifications 
the  Bishop  of  Derry  (Bramhall)  would  be  able  to  satisfy 
his  Grace.  Accordingly  Bramhall  did  write  to  Laud  in  favour 
of  Hewlett.  He  had  himself  for  some  time  been  a  pupil 
of  Hewlett's  at  Sidney-Sussex  College  (another  pupil  of 
Hewlett's  there,  perhaps  known  to  Bramhall  as  such,  having 
been  Oliver  Cromwell),  and  he  could  certify  him  to  be  "  a 
moderate  man  in  his  tenets."  Moreover,  he  had  about  £600 
a  year  of  his  own  from  land  in  England,  and  was  about  to 
marry  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Browne,  whom  Laud  knew. 
In  spite  of  all  which  negotiation,  the  matter  had  not  been 
ended  when  Milton  returned  from  abroad  ;  and  the  Provost- 
ship, with  the  bishopric  of  Cloyne  and  Eoss,  still  remained  in 
Chappell's  hands.  If  the  reader  remembers  what  cause 
Milton  had  had  to  know  about  Chappell's  temper  and  ways 
for  himself,  it  will  not  appear  strange  that  those  recent 
incidents  of  Chappell's  Irish  career  should  have  had  some 
interest  for  him  of  a  personal  kind.1 

Long  before  Milton  could  have  collected  such  news  of 

1  The  information  respecting  Chap-  the  State  Paper  Office  (Irish  series  of 

pell  in  this  paragraph  is  partly  from  Papers).      But    see    also   Dr.    Elring- 

letters  in  the  Strafford  Papers,  partly  ton's  Life  of  Usher,  prefixed  to  the  col- 

from  extensive  transcripts  of  my  own  lected  edition  of  Usher's  Works  (Dublin, 

from   the   original   correspondence   in  1847). 


1639-40.]       MILTON  BACK  IN  ENGLAND:    OLD  FRIENDS.  79 

Chappell  and  other  old  acquaintances  at  a  distance,  he  must 
have  looked  up  his  nearer  friends  in  and   about  London. 
Among  these  were  Alexander  Gill  the  younger,  and  Henry 
Lawes  the  musician.     Gill,  no  longer  needing  to  be  styled 
"the  younger"  (for  his  father  had  been  dead  since  1635, 
and  he  was  now  a  man  of  forty-two,  and  a  Doctor  of  Divinity 
to  boot),  was  still  in  his  father's  place  as  head-master  of 
St.  Paul's  School.     He  was  now  on  good  terms  enough  with 
Laud  and  the  other  constituted  authorities  of  Church  and 
State ;    and  the  recollection   of  his   former  misdeeds  and 
punishment  had  pretty  well  blown  over.1     But  he  was  the 
same  rough,  blustering  unfortunate  as  ever.     His  Latin  verses 
were  finding  their  way  about,  and  attesting  his  scholarship, 
such  as  it  was  ;  but  in  the  School  he  was  by  no  means  giving 
satisfaction,  and  the  Mercers,  as  patrons  of  the  School,  were 
thinking  of  removing  him,  chiefly  on  account  of  his  savage 
treatment  of  the  boys.2     If  from  the  Schoolhouse  in  Old 
Change  Milton  went  to  the  house  or  chambers  of  Henry 
Lawes,  to  show  him  some  of  the  rare  new  music,  by  Marenzo 
and  other  masters,  of  which  he  had  brought  over  two  chests 
from  Italy,  the  contrast  between  Gill  and  the  gentle  musician 
must  have  been  great.     The  reputation  of  Lawes  had  been 
growing  since  he  set  the  songs  of  Milton's  Comus  to  music, 
and  he  had  been  performing  similar  services  since  for  other 
poets,  such  as  Waller  and  Herrick,  better  known  about  the 
Court,  though  perhaps  not  so  dear  to  himself.     He  was  still 
teaching  music  in  the  Bridgewater  family,  and  Milton  might 
hear  from  him,  if  he  did  not  otherwise  know  it,  that  the  family 
were  then  mainly  residing  not  at  Ludlow  or  at  Ashridge,  but 
in  their  town-house  in  the  Barbican.8  It  was  more  than  three 
years  since  the  Earl  had  been  left  a  widower  by  the  death  of 
his  Countess,  and  more  than  two  since  her  mother,  the  vener- 
able Countess-Dowager  of  Derby,  the  heroine  of  the  Arcades, 
had  died  at  Harefield.     The  elder  daughters  of  the  widowed 
K:ii  1  had  for  some  time  been  married  and  away  from  him ; 
but  the  three  of  his  children  in  whom  Milton  would  feel  most 

i  Vol.  I.  pp.  207—213,  p.  510,  and          »  Letters  of  the  Earl  in  the  8.  P.  O., 

1-I-.  6664.  "f  tho  years  1639  and  1640,  are  mostly 

«  Wood's  Athen.  III.  42.  dated  from  his  hoiwo  in  the  Rirhican. 


80  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

interest,  as  those  pupils  of  Lawes  who  had  not  only  taken 
part  in  the  little  open-air  entertainment  of  the  Arcades  at 
Harefield  House,1  but  had  been  the  actors  in  the  masque  of 
Gomus  at  Ludlow  Castle,2  were  still  under  the  Earl's  roof. 
The  Lady  Alice  was  in  her  nineteenth  year,  and  the  two 
brothers,  Lord  Brackley  and  Mr.  Thomas  Egerton,  were  yet 
but  growing  youths. 

One  friend,  alas !  whose  welcome  would  have  been  dearer 
to  him  than  that  of  any  other,  was  no  longer  in  the  world. 
Charles  Diodati,  his  bosom  friend  in  the  days  when  they  had 
been  boys  together  at  St.  Paul's  School,  and  of  his  singular 
affection  for  whom  ever  since  we  have  had  so  many  proofs, 
had  died  during  his  absence. 

Milton  had  heard  of  the  event,  as  we  have  seen  (Vol.  T. 
829-30),  while  he  was  still  abroad.  The  full  particulars, 
however,  had  remained  unknown  to  him  till  his  return. 
Then  he  did  ascertain  them ;  but  it  is  only  recently  that, 
despite  the  utmost  assiduity  of  research  on  the  part  of  sub- 
sequent inquirers,  they  have  been  again  brought  to  light. 

They  were  disinterred  by  the  late  Colonel  J.  L.  Chester, 
the  indefatigable  American  genealogist,  in  the  course  of  his 
marvellously  extensive  researches  among  the  London  parish 
registers,  and  were  communicated  by  him  to  me  in  a  letter 
from  London  dated  24th  August  1874.  These  are  the 
exact  words  of  the  communication  : — "  Charles  Diodati  was 
"  buried  at  St.  Anne,  Blackfriars,  London,  27  Aug.  1638. 
"  The  entry  in  the  register  is  simply  '  Mr.  Charles  Deodate, 
"  from  Mr.  Dollam's.'  Seventeen  days  before,  viz.  1 0  Aug. 
"  1638,  was  also  buried  there  c  Mrs.  Philadelphia  Deodate, 
"from  Mr.  Dollam's:  On  the  29th  of  June  1638  was 
"  baptized  '  Richard,  son  of  John  and  Isabell  Deodate ' ;  and 
"  on  the  23rd  of  June  in  the  same  year  was  buried  'Isabell, 
"  wife  to  John  Deodate.'  These  are  all  the  entries  of  the 
"  name  that  occur  in  the  Register  of  St.  Anne,  Blackfriars." 
Colonel  Chester  was  able  to  inform  me  further  that  on  the 
3rd  of  October  1638,  or  five  weeks  after  the  burial  of  Charles 
Diodati  as  above  recorded,  letters  of  administration  to  his 

i  Vol.  I.  pp.  597—602.  2  ibid.  p.  611. 


1639-40.]       MILTON   BACK    IN    ENGLAND  :    OLD  FRIENDS.  81 

effects  were  granted  to  his  surviving  brother,  John  Diodati. 
For  the  due  interpretation  of  these  facts  and  dates,  it  remains 
Imt  to  connect  them  with  what  we  already  know  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  Diodati  family  before  Milton  set  out  on 
his  continental  tour. 

In  the  second  of  the  two  Latin  letters  from  Milton  to 
Diodati  in  September  1637  given  in  translation  ante,  Vol.  I. 
pp.  642-6, — Milton  then  dating  from  London,  and  Diodati 
then  residing  somewhere  in  the  north  of  England  in  medical 
practice  or  preparation  for  it, — there  was  bantering  mention 
of  a  "  step-motherly  war  "  (the  Latin  phrase  was  "  bcllum 
novercale  ")  as  then  troubling  the  good  Charles,  and  a  hope 
was  expressed  that  it  would  not  prevent  his  being  in  London 
again,  and  in  Milton's  company,  in  the  course  of  the  coming 
winter.  This  could  mean  only,  we  then  saw,  that  Diodati's 
father,  the  elderly  Italian  physician,  Dr.  Theodore  Diodati, 
had  thought  fit,  after  some  time  of  widowerhood,  to  bring  a 
new  wife  into  his  house  in  Little  St.  Bartholomew's.  Such 
had  been  the  fact.  Dr.  Theodore,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of 
his  age,  had  married  again ;  and  his  children  by  his  former 
marriage  had  taken  the  change  to  heart.  For  the  elder  of 
the  two  sons,  John  Diodati,  it  did  not,  indeed,  matter  so 
much.  Engaged  in  some  kind  of  mercantile  business,  and 
married  to  an  Isabell  Underwood  (such  was  her  full  name, 
as  ascertained  by  Colonel  Chester),  he  had  already  left  the 
paternal  home  and  become  a  householder  on  his  own 
account  in  the  suburb  of  London,  south  of  the  Thames, 
called  Blackfriars.  But  for  the  younger  and  unmarried 
son,  Charles,  and  for  his  unmarried  sister,  Philadelphia 
(whose  designation  of  Mrs.  in  the  Register  implies  nothing 
more  than  Miss  would  in  present  usage),  the  matter  was 
more  serious.  Hence,  when  Charles  did  return  to  London 
from  his  stay  in  the  north,  now  a  fully  qualified  physician, 
and  desirous  of  setting  up  in  London  medical  practice,  it  was 
not  to  his  father's  house  in  Little  St.  Bartholomew's  that 
he  returned.  He  followed  his  brother  John,  it  appears, 
into  tin-  lUa(  kliiars  district,  taking  apartments  there  in  the 
house  of  a  Mr.  Dollam,  and  joined  there  by  his  sister 

VOL.  II  G 


82  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

Philadelphia.  It  is  possible,  or  even  likely,  that  his  return 
to  town  occurred,  as  Milton  had  expected  it  might,  in  the 
course  of  the  winter  of  1637-8  ;  in  which  case  Milton  must 
have  been  often  with  him  during  that  winter  in  his  rooms 
at  Mr.  Dollam's.  But,  whether  Milton,  when  he  did  set 
out  in  April  1638,  had  parted  with  Diodati  in  those  rooms 
in  Blackfriars,  or  whether  Diodati  was  then  still  away  from 
London,  certain  it  is  that  not  one  of  all  the  friends  that 
Milton  had  left  in  England  was  so  much  in  his  thoughts  as 
Diodati  during  the  months  of  his  continental  journeyings 
and  his  residences  in  the  chief  Italian  cities.  There  is 
proof  that  he  spoke  much  of  the  London  Diodatis,  and  of  his 
friend  Charles  in  particular,  among  his  Italian  acquaintances 
of  the  Florentine  circle  ;  and  what  can  have  been  the  motive 
for  that  "  excursion  of  a  few  days  "  from  Florence  to  Lucca, 
during  his  second  two  months  in  Florence,  from  February  to 
April  1639  (Vol.  I.  p.  823),  if  it  was  not  a  desire  to  see 
the  Italian  town,  of  no  special  interest  otherwise  at  that 
time,  to  which  the  Diodatis  traced  their  origin  and  their 
oldest  ancestral  distinctions  ?  In  the  course  of  his  subse- 
quent leisurely  journey  from  Florence  homewards,  he  must 
have  been  looking  forward  eagerly  to  the  hour  when  he 
should  be  again  in  Diodati's  society,  and  should  be  pouring 
into  Diodati's  ear  the  tale  of  all  his  doings  and  experiences 
in  the  Italian  towns,  this  visit  to  Lucca  included. 

All  the  more  terrible  the  shock,  which  came  upon  him 
at  some  point  or  other  on  that  homeward  journey,  of  the 
first  news  of  Diodati's  death.  The  news  had  been  much 
belated ;  for  the  death  had  happened  six  or  seven  months 
before,  while  Milton  was  enjoying  the  delights  of  his  first 
two  months  in  Florence,  and  not  more  than  four  months 
after  he  had  left  England.  The  Parish  Eegisters  of  St. 
Anne,  Blackfriars,  make  all  distinct  now  : — The  death  of 
Charles  Diodati  was  the  last  of  three  deaths  in  the  Diodati 
family  that  had  happened  in  close  succession  in  the  summer 
of  1638.  First,  on  the  23rd  of  June  1638,  there  was  the 
burial  in  the  Churchyard  of  St.  Anne,  Blackfriars,  of  the 
wife  of  John  Diodati,  leaving  a  newly -born  infant  son; 


1639-40.] 


K/'/TA  VIUV.M   DAAfOMS. 


83 


then,  on  the  10th  of  August,  there  was  the  burial  in  the 
same  churchyard,  but  registered  as  "  from  Mr.  Dollam's,"  of 
Philadelphia  Diodati;  and,  finally,  on  the  27th  of  August, 
there  was  buried,  also  "  from  Mr.  Dollam's,"  Milton's  friend, 
Charles  Diodati.  The  first  of  the  three  deaths  may  have 
been  from  child-birth;  but  for  the  cause  of  the  deaths  of 
Philadelphia  and  her  brother  Charles  in  the  same  house 
within  seventeen  days  of  each  other  one  imagines  some  fever 
or  other  epidemic  then  haunting  Blackfriars. 

What  we  thus  know  from  the  preserved  entries  in  an  old 
London  parish -register,  Milton  learnt,  doubtless  much  more 
circumstantially,  as  soon  as  he  was  back,  and  going  about 
again  in  the  London  streets.  That  house  in  Blackfriars,  so 
visionary  to  us  now  as  "Mr.  Dollam's,"  must  have  been 
looked  at  by  him  then  with  peculiarly  melancholy  interest, 
whether  he  knew  it  before  or  not ;  and  among  his  first  calls 
must  have  been  one  on  the  recently- widowed  John  Diodati 
in  his  domicile  in  the  same  fatal  neighbourhood,  if  not  one 
also  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Theodore  in  Little  St.  Bartholomew's, 
in  token  of  continued  respect  for  the  old  physician  himself, 
the  mischief  of  the  new  wife  there  notwithstanding.1 


1  The  second  marriage  does  not  seem 
to  have  interfered  in  the  least  with 
Dr.  Theodore's  practice  or  with  his 
activity  and  cheerfulness.  Among  his 
more  aristocratic  patients,  I  find,  were 
Sir  Robert  Harley,  K.B.,  afterwards 
im-ml»or  for  Herefordshire  in  the  Long 
Parliament,  and  a  sound  Parliament- 
arian, and  Sir  Robert's  wife,  Lady 
Hril  liana,  sister  of  Lord  Con  way.  Now, 
Lady  Brilliana  was  an  active  corre- 
lont;  a  collection  of  her  Letters, 
mainly  from  the  family  seat  of  B  ramp- 
ton  -  Bryan,  Herefordshire,  has  been 
pob&bed  (Camde*  flborfy,  1854);  and 
in  several  of  these  letters,  addressed 
to  her  son  Edward  Hurley,  then  at 
I.  mention  is  made,  at  intervals 
en  1638  and  1641,  of  Dr.  Diodati 
from  London  and  his  professional  visits 
to  the  Harlovs  and  their  neighbours. 
The  first  of  these  mentions  is  nil  that 
need  be  quoted  here:  "Feb.  1,  1638 
"  [i.e.  1638-91"  writes  Lady  Brilliana 
to  her  son  ;  "  Dr.  Deodate  was  sent  for 
Mr.  Robert  Moore's  wife,  who  is 
"  lately  come  out  of  the  Low  Countries : 
"  she  had  a  great  fever.  Dr.  Deodate, 


'  being   so   near,    came   to    see    your 
•  father  and  myself  ;  he  did  not  forget 
'  to  ask  for  you,  with  a  great  deal  of 
'  love,  and  expresses  a  great  deal  of 
'  desire  after  your  good.     He  is  very 
'  well,  and  merrier  than  ever  I  saw 
'  him.     His  man  told  Phoebe  [one  of 
'  Lady    Brilliana 's    maids?]    that    his 
'  mistress    [i.f.    the    man's    mistress, 
'  Doctor  Diodati's  new  wife]  is  with 
'  child :   if  it  bo  so,  sure  that  is  the 
'  ground  of  his  mirth.     Your  ancient 
'  friend,  Mrs.  Trafford,  is  very  big  with 
'  child,  and  Dr.  Deodate  does  SJOBJSJ 
'  thing  fear  her.     Ho  tells  mo  ho  was 
'  almost  in   love   with   her  when  she 
'  served  me,  but  now  he  cannot  fancy 
'  her." — Here,  certainly,  we  have  an 
unex{)octed  glimpse  of  the  old  physician 
on  in H-  of  his  country  trips,  five  months 
or  thereabouts  after  the  death  of  his 
son  Charles,  Milton's  friend.     Notwith- 
standing that  loss,  ho  is  merrier  and 
more  jocular  than  usual ;  and  this  is 
attributed  to  a  certain  domestic  expect- 
ation,   promising  him   a   child    thirty 
years  younger  than  his  dead  Charles 
would    have    been.      The    naturalized 


84  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

No  need  for  such  guesses.  So  far  as  Milton's  remaining 
writings  furnish  us  with  the  means  of  inferring  the  nature  of 
his  occupations  and  meditations  during  the  first  month  or 
two  after  his  return  to  England,  we  see  the  death  of  his  friend 
Diodati  overclouding  and  darkening  for  him  everything  else. 
Going  and  coming  between  Horton  and  London,  and  making 
up,  as  we  have  fancied,  the  arrears  of  his  information  as  to 
what  of  public  or  of  private  interest  had  passed  in  his  absence, 
we  see  him  nevertheless  thinking  day  after  day  of  this  most 
mournful  event  of  all,  and  unable  to  get  the  image  of  his 
friend  and  the  reported  circumstances  of  his  decease  out  of  his 
mind.  His  thoughts  on  the  subject  took  at  length  the  form 
of  an  In  Memoriam  poem.  It  is  that  Latin  elegy  which, 
under  the  title  of  "  Epitapliium  Damonis"  is  the  sole  rem- 
nant of  Milton's  muse  at  this  particular  juncture  of  his  life, 
and,  except  one  or  two  slight  subsequent  scraps,  the  last 
exercise  of  his  pen  in  Latin  verse. 

That  the  poem,  though  an  expression  of  personal  grief, 
should  be  in  that  "  pastoral "  form  which  we  have  long  dis- 
used, and  now  account  so  artificial,  will  surprise  no  one  who 
has  rightly  apprehended  the  theory  of  the  Pastoral  as  it  was 
understood  by  Spenser  and  his  English  successors  (Vol.  I.  pp. 
453 — 455).  Enough  here  to  refer  to  Milton's  own  concep- 
tion of  the  pastoral  as  previously  illustrated  in  his  Lycidas. 
In  that  poem  it  is  not  Milton  personally  that  is  before  us 
bewailing  the  death  of  his  fellow-collegian  Edward  King ; 
but  there  is  reported  to  us  by  Milton  the  song  of  an 
imaginary  shepherd  whom  he  sees  lamenting  through  a  whole 
summer  day  the  death  of  his  young  fellow-shepherd  Lycidas, 
and  whom  he  at  last  describes  as  rising  from  his  reverie  at 
sundown,  twitching  his  blue  mantle,  and  going  slowly  home- 
wards. But  who  shall  say  that  there  is  any  less  feeling  of 
reality  in  the  effect  ?  Who  will  not  rather  say  that  it  is  a 
finer  monument  to  the  memory  of  King  to  have  let  the  fact 
of  his  death  thus  originate  a  whole  mood  of  the  poet's  mind, 
and  take  possession  of  all  the  appropriate  fancies,  and  even 

London    physician,     brother    of    the       veteran,  with  courtly  and  gallant  Italian 
famous    Genevese    divine,    is    to     be       ways  to  the  last. 
fancied,  it  seems,  as  a  cheery,  active 


1639-40.]  i:i'IT.\  I'll  1  I'M  DAAIOMS.  S .". 

all  the  incidental  thoughts  about  the  state  of  England,  that 
could  come  in  that  mood,  than  if  the  poet  had  merely 
registered  the  fact  in  a  lyric  of  direct  regret  ?  A  true  elegy 
in  the  same  sense,  La  that  it  is  the  dedication  to  a  departed 
friend  of  an  artistic  posy  of  the  most  beautiful  thoughts 
and  fancies  that  can  be  associated  with  his  memory  even 
by  intellectual  intention,  is  Milton's  Epitaphium  Damonis. 
Between  this  poem  of  1639  and  the  Lycidas  of  1637, 
however,  there  is  a  difference  corresponding  to  the  difference 
between  Milton's  regard  for  Diodati  and  his  regard  for  King. 
Not  the  Irish-born  Edward  King,  it  has  to  be  remembered, 
but  the  half-Italian  Charles  Diodati,  was  pre-eminently  and 
peculiarly  the  friend  of  Milton  in  his  boyhood,  youth, 
and  early  manhood.  Hence  Milton's  grief  for  the  death  of 
Diodati,  as  it  is  expressed  in  the  Epitaphium  Damonis,  is 
of  a  much  more  personal  and  intimate  nature,  far  more 
suggestive  of  actual  tears  and  sobs  from  him  in  his  soli- 
tude, than  anything  discernible  in  the  Lycidas,  beautiful 
though  that  monody  is.  The  more  strange  it  may  still  seem 
to  many  that  in  the  elegy  on  Diodati  the  form  should  be 
that  of  the  pastoral  in  its  most  extreme  artificial  variety. 
Not  only  is  the  language  Latin,  and  the  verse  the  hexameter ; 
but  the  pastoral  fancy  is  carried  out  with  excessive  minute- 
ness, and  there  is  a  deliberate  recollection  and  imitation 
throughout  of  particular  idylls  of  the  Greek  poets,  Theocritus, 
Bion,  and  Moschus,  and  of  the  Latin  Virgil.  With  all  these 
disadvantages,  removing  the  poem  from  the  habits  of  our 
modern  taste,  it  will  be  found,  by  those  who  will  take  a  little 
trouble  with  it,  one  of  the  noblest  things  that  Milton  has 
left  us,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  its 
personal  revelations.  Even  the  following  attempt  at  a 
translation  into  English  hexameters  ought  to  convey  some 
such  impression  :— 

ON  THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON. 

THE  ARGUMENT. 

Tliyrsis  and  Damon,  shepherds  of  the  same  neighbourhood,  follow- 
ing the  same  pursuits,  were  friends  from  their  boyhood,  in  the 


86  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

highest  degree  of  mutual  attachment.  Thyrsis,  having  set  out 
to  travel  for  mental  improvement,  received  news  when  abroad  of 
Damon's  death.  Afterwards  at  length  returning,  and  finding 
the  matter  to  be  so,  he  deplores  himself  and  his  solitary  condi- 
tion in  the  following  poem.  Under  the  guise  of  Damon,  how- 
ever, is  here  understood  Charles  Diodati,  tracing  his  descent  on 
the  father's  side  from  the  Tuscan  city  of  Lucca,  but  otherwise 
English, — a  youth  remarkable,  while  he  lived,  for  his  genius,  his 
learning,  and  other  most  shining  virtues. 

Nymphs  of  old  Himera's  stream  (for  ye  it  was  that  remembered 
Daphnis  and  Hylas  when  dead,  and  grieved  for  the  sad  fate  of  Bion), 
Tell  through  the  hamlets  of  Thames  this  later  Sicilian l  story— 
What  were  the  cries  and  murmurs  that  burst  from  Thyrsis  the 

wretched, 
What  lamentations  continued  he  wrung  from  the  caves  and  the 

rivers, 
Wrung  from   the  wandering  brooks  and   the  grove's   most  secret 

recesses, 

Mourning  his  Damon  lost,  and  compelling  even  the  midnight 
Into  the  sound  of  his  woe,  as  he  wandered  in  desolate  places. 
Twice  had  the  ears  in  the  wheatfields  shot  through  the  green  of 

their  sheathing, 

As  many  crops  of  pale  gold  were  the  reapers  counting  as  garnered, 
Since  the  last  day  that  had  taken  Damon  down  from  the  living, 
Thyrsis  not  being  by ;  for  then  that  shepherd  was  absent, 
Kept  by  the  Muse's  sweet  love  in  the  far-famed  town  of  the  Tuscan.2 
But,  when  his  satiate  mind,  and  the  care  of  his  flock  recollected, 
Brought  him  back  to  his  home,  and  he  sat,  as  of  old,  'neath  the 

elm-tree, 
Then  at  last,  O  then,  as  the  sense  of  his  loss  comes  upon  him, 

1  "This    later   Sicilian   story:"    i.e.  adopts  the  name  of  Thyrsis  for  himself, 

this  modern  tale  after  the  model  of  the  — having  already  used  it  as  the  name 

ancient  pastoral  poets,  Theocritus  and  of  one  of  his  characters  in  Comus :  the 

Moschus,  both  of  whom  were  Sicilians,  other   names   of  imaginary   shepherds 

and   neighbours   of    the   Sicilian  river  and   shepherdesses  introduced   in   the 

Himera.     Milton  invokes  the  nymphs  poem,  as  well  as  most  of  the  pastoral 

of  that  stream  as  the  muses  more  espe-  images,  are  also  from  the  Greek  and 

cially  of  Pastoral  Poetry.     So  also  in  Latin  pastoral  poets.     In  the  structure 

Lye  Idas  it  is  the  "Sicilian  Muse"  that  of  the  verse,  too — as,  for  example,  in 

is  present  (line  133). — The  first  Idyll  of  the  use  of  a  recurring  phrase  breaking 

Theocritus    contains    the    lamentation  the  lament  into  separate  musical  parts 

of  the  shepherd  Thyrsis  for  the  dying  or  bursts — he  has  followed  the  Greek 

shepherd  Daphnis  ;  the  thirteenth  Idyll  precedent. 

of  the  same  poet  relates  the  loss  of  2  Observe  how  exactly  these  lines  fix 

Hylas  ;  and  the  third  Idyll  of  Moschus  the  date  of  Diodati's  death,  —  August 

deplores  the  death  of  Bion  and  is  en-  1638. 
titled    " Epitaphium   Bionis."      Milton 


1639-40.]  r.I'lTM'HIUM  DAMOS I  *  87 

Thus  he  begins  to  disburthen  all  his  measureless  sorrow : — 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Ah  me !  what  deities  now  shall  I  call  on  in  earth  or  in  heaven, 
After  the  pitiless  death  by  which  they  have  reft  tbee,  my  Damon? 
Thus  dost  thou  leave  us  ?  thus  without  name  is  thy  virtue  departed 
Down  to  the  world  below,  to  take  rank  with  the  shadows  unnoted  1 
No !     May  He  that  disparteth  souls  with  his  glittering  baton 
Will  it  not  so,  but  lead  thee  into  some  band  of  the  worthies, 
Driving  far  from  thy  side  all  the  mere  herd  of  the  voiceless  1 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Hap  as  it  may,  unless  the  wolfs  black  glance  shall  first  cross  me, 
Not  in  a  tearless  tomb  shall  thy  loved  mortality  moulder ; 
Stand  shall  thine  honour  for  thee,  and  long  henceforth  shall  it 

flourish 

Mid  our  shepherd-lads ;  and  thee  they  shall  joy  to  remember 
Next  after  Daphnis  chief,  next  after  Daphnis  to  praise  thee, 
So  long  as  Pales  and  Faunus  shall  love  our  fields  and  our  meadows, 
If  it  avails  to  have  cherished  the  faith  of  the  old  and  the  loyal, 
Pallas's  arts  of  peace,  and  have  bad  a  tuneful  companion ! 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Kept  are  these  honours  for  thee,  and  thine  they  shall  be,  my  Damon  ! 
But  for  myself  what  remains  ?     For  me  what  faithful  companion 
Now  will  cling  to  my  side,  in  the  place  of  the  one  so  familiar, 
All  through  the  season  harsh  when  the  grounds  are  crisp  with  the 

snow-crust, 

Or  'neath  the  blazing  sun  when  the  herbage  is  dying  for  moisture  1 
Were  it  the  task  to  go  forth  in  the  track  of  the  ravaging  lions, 
Or  to  drive  back  from  the  folds  the  wolf-packs  boldened  by  hunger, 
Who  would  now  lighten  the  day  with  the  sound  of  his  talk  or  his 

singing  1 
"Go  un  pastured,  my  lambs:  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Win  mi  shall  I  trust  with  my  thoughts ;  or  who  will  teach  me  to  deaden 
Heart-hid  pains ;  or  who  will  cheat  away  the  long  evening 
Sweetly  with  chat  by  the  fire,  where  hissing  hot  on  the  ashes 
Roasts  the  ripe  pear,  and  the  chestnuts  crackle  beneath,  while  the 

South-wind 
Hurls  confusion  without,  and  thunders  down  on  the  elm-tops? 


88  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF   HIS  TIME. 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Then,  in  the  summer,  when  day  spins  round  on  his  middlemost  axle, 
What  time  Pan  takes  his  sleep  concealed  in  the  shade  of  the  beeches, 
And  when  the  nymphs  have  repaired  to  their  well-known  grots  in 

the  rivers, 

Shepherds  are  not  to  be  seen  and  under  the  hedge  snores  the  rustic, 
Who  will  bring  me  again  thy  blandishing  ways  and  thy  laughter, 
All  thy  Athenian  jests,  and  all  the  fine  wit  of  thy  fancies  1 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Now  all  lonely  I  wander  over  the  fields  and  the  pastures, 
Or  where  the  branchy  shades  are  densest  down  in  the  valleys ; 
There  I  wait  till  late,  while  the  shower  and  the  storm-blast  above  me 
Moan  at  their  will,  and  sighings  shake  through  the  breaks  of  the 

woodlands. 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Ah  !  how  my  fields,  once  neat,  are  now  overgrown  and  unsightly, 
Forward  only  in  weeds,  and  the  tall  corn  sickens  with  mildew ! 
Mateless,   my  vines  droop    down    the   shrivelled  weight   of   their 

clusters ; 

Neither  please  me  my  myrtles ;  and  even  the  sheep  are  a  trouble ; 
They  seem  sad,  and  they  turn  their  faces,  poor  things,   to  their 

master ! 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :   your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Tityrus l  calls  to  the  hazels ;  to  the  ash-trees  Alphesiboeus  ; 
JEtgon  suggests  the  willows  :  '  The  streams,'  says  lovely  Amyntas ; 
'  Here  are  the  cool  springs,  here  the  moss-broidered  grass  and  the 

hillocks ; 

'  Here  are  the  zephyrs,  and  here  the  arbutus  whispers  the  ripple.' 
These  things  they  sing  to  the  deaf ;  so  I  took  to  the  thickets  and 

left  them. 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Mopsus  addressed  me  next,  for  he  had  espied  me  returning 
(Wise  in  the  language  of  birds,  and  wise  in  the  stars  too,  is  Mopsus) : 

1  Tityrus,  Alphesiboeus,  &c.,  are  all       had  particular  acquaintances  of  his  in 
the  names  of  shepherds  in  Virgil's  EC-       view  under  these  names, 
logues.     Milton  may,  or  may  not,  have 


1639-40.]  IJ'ITM'Hir.M    /*.lM<>y/K  89 

'Thyrsis,'  he  said,   'what  is  this?    what   bilious  humour  afflicts 
thee? 

*  Either  love  is  the  cause,  or  the  blast  of  some  star  inauspicious ; 

*  Saturn's  star  is  of  all  the  oftenest  deadly  to  shepherds, 

*  Fixing  deep  in  the  breast  his  slant  leaden  shaft  of  sickness.' 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 
Round  me  fair  maids  wonder.     '  What  will  come  of  thee,  Thyrsis  ? 

*  What  wouldst  thou  have  ? '  they  say  :   *  not  commonly  see  we  the 

young  men 

*  Wearing  that  cloud  on  the  brow,  the  eyes  thus  stern  and  the 

visage : 

*  Youth  seeks  the  dance  and  sports,  and  in  all  will   tend  to  be 

wooing : 

*  Rightfully  so :  twice  wretched  is  he  who  is  late  in  his  loving.' 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Dryope  came,  and  Hyas,  and  ^Egle,  the  daughter  of  Baucis 
(Learned  is  she  in  the  song  and  the  lute,  but  O  what  a  proud 

one !) ; 

Came  to  me  Chloris  also,  the  maid  from  the  banks  of  the  Chelmer. 
Nothing   their   blandishings   move   me,   nothing   their   prattle   of 

comfort ; 

Nothing  the  present  can  move  me,  nor  any  hope  of  the  future.1 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Ah  me !  how  like  one  another  the  herds  frisk  over  the  meadows, 
All,  by  the  law  of  their  kind,  companions  equally  common ; 
No  one  selecting  for  friendship  this  one  rather  than  that  one 
Out  of  the  flock  !     So  come  in  droves  to  their  feeding  the  jackals  ; 
So  in  their  turns  pair  also  the  rough  untameable  zebras. 
Such  too  the  law  of  the  deep,  where  Proteus  down  on  the  shingle 
Numbers  his  troops  of  sea-calves.     Nay,  that  meanest  of  wing'd  ones, 
See  how  the  sparrow  has  always  near  him  a  fellow,  when  flying 
Round  by  the  barns  he  chirrups,  but  seeks  his  own  thatch  ere  it 

darkens ; 
Whom  should  fate  strike  lifeless — whether  the  beak  of  the  falcon 

1  The  feminine  names  here  used  are  fluenti ")  may  bo  a  real  person.     The 

also  from  the  old  JKH.-U.    The  Chloris  Cholmor  it*  in  Essex  ;  and  its  influx  into 

inuiitiiineil  u.s  "  the  maid  from  the  tanks  the  sea  is  by  Blackwater  Bay,  which  is 

«if   tin-  Clu-lmcr"  (which  seems  to  IMJ  called  by  Ptolemy  (says  Warton)  PuHut 

the    tran-!ati..n  >icina  Idumuuiu*. 


90  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

Pin  him  in  air,  or  he  lie  transfixed  by  the  reed  of  the  ditcher — 
Quick  the  survivor  is  off,  and  a  moment  finds  him  remated. 
We  are  the  hard  race,  we,  the  battered  children  of  fortune, 
We  of  the  breed  of  men,  strange-minded  and  different-moulded  ! 
Scarcely  does  any  discover  his  one  true  mate  among  thousands ; 
Or,  if  kindlier  chance  shall  have  given  the  singular  blessing, 
Comes  a  dark  day  on  the  creep,  and  comes  the  hour  unexpected, 
Snatching  away  the  gift,  and  leaving  the  anguish  eternal. 

"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Ah  !  what  roaming  whimsy  drew  my  steps  to  a  distance, 
Over  the  rocks  hung  in  air  and  the  Alpine  passes  and  glaciers  ! 
Was  it  so  needful  for  me  to  have  seen  old  Rome  in  her  ruins — 
Even  though  Rome  had  been   such  as,   erst  in   the  days  of  her 

greatness, 

Tityrus,1  only  to  visit,  forsook  both  his  flocks  and  his  country— 
That  but  for  this  I  consented  to  lack  the  dear  use  of  thy  presence, 
Placing  so  many  seas  and  so  many  mountains  between  us, 
So  many  woods  and  rocks  and  so  many  murmuring  rivers  1 
Ah !  at  the  end  at  least  to  have  touched  his  hand  had  been  given 

me, 

Closed  his  beautiful  eyes  in  the  placid  hour  of  his  dying, 
Said  to  my  friend,  '  Farewell !   in  the  world  of  the  stars  think  of 

me  ! ' 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :    your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

Albeit  also  of  you  my  memory  never  shall  weary, 
Swains  of  the  Tuscan  land,  well-practised  youths  in  the  Muses, 
Here  there  was  grace  and  lightness ;  Tuscan  thou  too,  my  Damon, 
Tracing  the  line  of  thy  race  from  the  ancient  city  of  Lucca  ! 
O,  how  mighty  was  I,  when,  stretched  by  the  stream  of  the  Arno 
Murmuring  cool,  and  where  the  poplar-grove  softens  the  herbage, 
Violets  now  I  would  pluck,  and  now  the  sprigs  of  the  myrtle, 
Hearing  Menalcas  and  Lycidas  vying  the  while  in  their  ditties  ! 
/  also  dared  the  challenge ;  nor,  as  I  reckon,  the  hearers 

1  In  Virgil's  first  Eclogue,  the  shep-  Milton's  line  (line   115  of  Epitaphium) 
herd  Tityrus  relates  his  visit  to  Rome,  ,«  ^       . , 

and  the  impression  which  the  vastness  "^fiV^  '* 

of  the  city  made  on  his  rustic  mind. 

Tityrus,    in    that    Eclogue,    represents  is  all  but  a  quotation  of  the  27th  line 

Virgil  himself  ;  so  that  Milton's  mean-  of   Virgil's   Eclogue,    where   Meliboeus 

ing  here  is  ' '  Was  it  so  needful  for  me  to  asks  Tityrus, 
go  to  see  Rome   even  if  Rome  had  still  «  Et  qu£e  tanta  fuifc  Romam  tibi 

been  the  great  Rome  of  Virgils  days  ?  "  causa  videndi  ?  " 


1639-40.]  KI'ITM'HII'M  DAMONIS.  91 

Greatly  disliked  my  trials — for  yet  the  tokens  are  with  me, 

Rush-plaits,  osier  nets,  and  reed-stops  of  wax,  which  they  gave  me. 

Ay  more  :  two  of  the  group  have  taught  our  name  to  their  beech- 
woods — 

Dati  and  also  Francini,  both  of  them  notable  shepherds, 

As  well  in  lore  as  in  voice,  and  both  of  the  blood  of  the  Lydian.1 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 
bleating. 

Then  too  the  pleasant  dreams  which  the  dewy  moon  woke  within 
me, 

Penning  the  young  kids  alone  within  their  wattles  at  even  ! 

Ah !  how  often  I  said,  when  already  the  black  mould  bewrapt  thee, 

*  Now  my  Damon  is  singing,  or  spreading  his  snares  for  the  leveret ; 

*  Now  he  is  weaving  his  twig-net  for  some  of  his  various  uses.' 
What  with  my  easy  mind  I  hoped  as  then  in  the  future 
Lightly  I  seized  with  the  wish  and  fancied  as  present  before  me. 

'  Ho,  my  friend  ! '   I  would  cry  :    '  art  busy  ?     If  nothing  prevent 

thee, 

1  Shall  we  go  rest  somewhere  in  some  talk-favouring  covert, 
1  Or  to  the  waters  of  Colne,  or  the  fields  of  Cassibelaunus  ? 2 
'  There  thou  shalt  run  me  over  the  list  of  thy  herbs  and  their 

juices, 

*  Foxglove,  and  crocuses  lowly,  and  hyacinth-leaf  with  its  blossom, 
4  Marsh-plants  also  that  grow  for  use  in  the  art  of  the  healer."  3 
Perish  the  plants  each  one,  and  perish  all  arts  of  the  healer 
Gotten  of  herbs,  since  nothing  served  they  even  their  master ! 

/  too — for  strangely  my  pipe  for  some  time  past  had  been  sounding 
Strains  of  an  unknown  strength — 'tis  one  day  more  than  eleven  since 
Thus  it  befell — and  perchance  the  reeds  I  was  trying  were  new  ones  : 
Bursting  their  fastenings,  they  flew  apart  when  touched,  and  no 
farther 

Thin  is  a  distinct  reference  to  the  are  in  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Alban's, 

two  written  encomiums  on  Milton  by  Hurts. 

the    Florentines    Dati    and    Francini,  »  The  allusion  is  to  Diodati's  profes- 

which  ho  brought  with  him  from  Italy,  sion  of  medicine  and  his  knowledge  of 

and  afterwards  published.     See  Vol.  I.  botany.     The  reference  in  Comtu  to  the 

-785.    1  have  no  doubt  that  the  "  shephord-lad  "  who  is  well  skilled  in 

"  rush -plait«,"i"  reed-stops  of  wax,"  Ac.,  every  virtuous  plant  and  healing  herb, 

are  |>oetical  names  for  little  presents  and  to  whoso  friendship  the  guardian 

actually  received  from  hia  Florentine  spirit    Thyn»i«    professes    to    owe    his 

i'  •  '"'-•  knowlodgeof  the  divine  plant  Hasmony, 

by  the  use  of  which  the  enchantment  is 

The  Come  flows  by  Uorton  and  Coin-  broken,  is  supposed  to  be  a  compliment 

brook:    the  fields  of  the  old   British  to  the  then  living  Diodati.     Compare 

'  aasibelaunus,  who  opposed  Cesar,  the  passage,  Com  in  618—648. 


92  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

Dared  to  endure  the  grave  sounds  :  I  am  haply  in  this  over-boastful ; 
Yet  I  will  tell  out  the  tale.     Ye  woods,  yield  your  honours  and 

listen  ! l 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

/  have  a  theme  of  the  Trojans  cruising  our  southern  headlands 
Shaping  to  song,  and  the  realm  of  Imogen,  daughter  of  Pandras, 
Brennus  and  Arvirach,  dukes,  and  Bren's  bold  brother,  Belinus ; 
Then  the  Armorican  settlers  under  the  laws  of  the  Britons, 
Ay,  and  the  womb  of  Igraine  fatally  pregnant  with  Arthur, 
Uther's  son,  whom  he  got  disguised  in  Gorlois'  likeness, 
All  by  Merlin's  craft.2     O  then,  if  life  shall  be  spared  me, 
Thou  shalt  be  hung,  my  pipe,  far  off  on  some  brown  dying  pine-tree, 
Much  forgotten  of  me ;  or  else  your  Latian  music 
Changed  for  the  British  war-screech  !     What  then  ?     For  one  to  do 

all  things, 

One  to  hope  all  things,  fits  not !     Prize  sufficiently  ample 
Mine,  and  distinction  great  (unheard  of  ever  thereafter 
Though  I  should  be,  and  inglorious,  all  through  the  world  of  the 

stranger), 

If  but  yellow-haired  Ouse  shall  read  me,  the  drinker  of  Alan, 
Humber,  which  whirls  as  it  flows,  and  Trent's  whole  valley  of  orchards, 
Thames,  my  own  Thames,  above  all,  and  Tamar's  western  waters, 
Tawny  with  ores,  and  where  the  white  waves  swinge  the  far  Orkneys. 
"  Go  unpastured,  my  lambs  :  your  master  now  heeds  not  your 

bleating. 

These  I  was  keeping  for  thee,  wrapt  up  in  the  rind  of  the  laurel, 
These  and  other  things  with  them ;  and  mainly  the  two  cups  which 

Manso — 

Manso,  not  the  last  of  Southern  Italy's  glories — 
Gave  me,  a  wonder  of  art,  which  himself,  a  wonder  of  nature, 
Carved  with  a  double  design  of  his  own  well-skilled  invention  : 
Here  the  Red  Sea  in  the  midst,  and  the  odoriferous  summer, 

1  Observe,  in  the  few  preceding  lines,  British   princes  of  a  much   later  age, 
the  studied  abruptness  and  hesitation  sons    of    King    Dunwallo    Molmutius  ; 
with  which  Milton  passes  from  the  men-  Arvirach   or  Arviragus,   son  of   Cuno- 
tion  of  Diodati's  art  and  profession  to  beline,   or  Cymbeline,   belongs  to   the 
the  thought  of  his  own  poetic  art  and  time  of  the  Roman  conquest  of  Britain  ; 
literary  pursuits.  the  "Armorican  settlers"  are  the  Bri- 

2  In  the  British  legends  of  Geoffrey  tons  who  remove  to  the  French  coast 
of  Monmouth  and  others,  the  mythical  of    Armorica    to    avoid    the    invading 
Brutus,  before  arriving  in  Britain  with  Saxons  ;  Uther  Pendragon,  Igraine,  Gor- 
his  Trojans,  marries  Imogen,  daughter  lois,   Merlin,   and  Arthur  are  familiar 
of  the  Grecian  king  Pandrasus  ;  Bren-  names  of  the  Arthurian  romances. 

nus  and    Belinus   are    two    legendary 


1639-40.]  A7V7M /'////'.I/    //.IJ/o.V/>.  93 

Araby's  winding  shores,  and  palm-trees  sweating  their  balsams, 
Mid  which  the  bird  divine,  earth's  marvel,  the  singular  Phoenix, 
Blazing  caerulean-bright  with  wings  of  different  colours, 
Turns  to  behold  Aurora  surmounting  the  glassy-green  billows : 
Obverse  is  Heaven's  vast  vault  and  the  great  Olympian  mansion. 
Who  would  suppose  it  ?    Even  here  is  Love  and  his  cloud-painted 

quiver, 

Arms  glittering  torch-lit,  and  arrows  tipped  with  the  fire-gem. 
Nor  is  it  meagre  souls  and  the  base-born  breasts  of  the  vulgar 
Hence  that  he  strikes;  but,  whirling  round  him  his  luminous 

splendours, 

Always  he  scatters  his  darts  right  upwards  sheer  through  the  star- 
depths 

Restless,  and  never  deigns  to  level  the  pain  of  them  downwards ; 
Whence  the  sacred  minds  and  the  forms  of  the  gods  ever-burning.1 
"Thou  too  art  there — not  vain  is  the  hope  that  I  cherish,  my 

Damon — 
Thou  too  art   certainly   there;   for   whither   besides   could   have 

vanished 

Holy-sweet  fancies  like  thine,  and  purity  stainless  as  thine  was  ? 
No  ;  not  down  in  Lethe's  darkness  ought  we  to  seek  thee  ! 
Tears  are  not  fitting  for  thee,  nor  for  thee  will  we  weep  any  longer ; 
Flow  no  more,  ye  tear-drops  !     Damon  inhabits  the  ether ; 
Pure,  he  possesses  the  sky  ;  he  has  spurned  back  the  arc  of  the 

rainbow. 

Housed  mid  the  souls  of  the  heroes,  housed  mid  the  gods  everlast- 
ing, 

Quaffs  he  the  sacred  chalices,  drinks  he  the  joys  of  the  blessed, 
Holy-mouthed  himself.     But  O,  Heaven's  rights  being  now  thine, 
Be  thou  with  me  for  my  good,  however  I  ought  to  invoke  thee, 
Whether  still  as  our  Damon,  or  whether  of  names  thou  wouldst 

rather 

That  of  Diodati 2  now,  by  which  deep-meaning  divine  name 
All  the  celestials  shall  know  thee,  while  shepherds  shall  still  call 

thee  Damon. 
For   that   the  rosy  blush  and   the  unstained   strength  of  young 

manhood 

i  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  whole  of  him  (Vol.  I.  p.  819).     Where  are  they 

this  passage  is  a  poetical  description  of  now  ? 

the  designs  on  an  actual  pair  of  cups          *  The  name  Diodati  ("God-given"), 

or  chased  goblets   which   Milton  had  as  is  proved  hero  and  also  in  one  of  the 

received  as  a  keepsake  from  Manso  at  Italian    HonneU,    was    pronounced,    as 

Naples,  and  hod  brought  homo  with  correctly  it  ought  to  bo,  ttiod&ti. 


94  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Ever  were  dear  to  thee,  and  the  marriage-joy  never  was  tasted, 

Lo !  there  are  kept  for  thee  the  honours  of  those  that  were  virgin  ! 

Thou,  with  thy  fair  head  crowned  with  the  golden,  glittering 
cincture, 

Waving  green  branches  of  palm,  and  walking  the  gladsome  pro- 
cession, 

Aye  shalt  act  and  repeat  the  endless  heavenly  nuptials, 

There  where  song  never  fails  and  the  lyre  and  the  dance  mix  to 
madness, 

There  where  the  revel  rages  and  Sion's  thyrsus  beats  time." 1 

Let  the  reader,  before  leaving  this  remarkable  poem,  re- 
peruse  the  particular  passage,  near  the  end,  beginning  with 
the  words,  "  /  too— for  strangely  my  pipe  for  some  time  past" 
and  extending  through  the  next  twenty-four  lines.  That 
passage  is  pregnantly  autobiographical.  Taken  in  connexion 
with  other  passages  in  Milton's  writings,  it  informs  us  as  to 
the  nature  of  his  occupations  and  projects,  not  only  at  the 
moment  when  the  poem  was  written — i.e.  in  September  or 
October  1639, — but  also  for  a  good  many  months  afterwards. 

In  Milton's  treatise  entitled  The  Reason  of  Church  Govern- 
ment, published  in  January  or  February  1641-2,  there  is  a 
passage  in  which  he  refers  to  the  good  opinion  uniformly 
pronounced  on  his  earlier  writings,  whether  in  prose  or  verse, 
whether  in  English  or  Latin,  by  friends  at  home,  and  more 
especially  to  the  favourable  reception  of  some  trifles  of  his  in 
the  private  Academies  of  Italy,  and  the  quite  unusual 
encomiums  with  which  he,  an  unknown  Englishman,  had 
been  honoured  during  his  tour  by  Italian  scholars  of  note. 
What  interests  us  now  is  the  statement  of  the  passage 
respecting  the  effect  produced  on  Milton's  mind  by  those 
friendly  opinions  and  encomiums.  "  I  began,"  he  says,  "  thus 
"  far  to  assent  both  to  them  [his  Italian  critics]  and  divers  of 
"  my  friends  here  at  home,  and  not  less  to  an  inward 
"  prompting  which  now  grew  daily  upon  me,  that  by  labour 
"  and  intent  study  (which  I  take  to  be  my  portion  in  this 
"  life),  joined  with  the  strong  propensity  of  nature,  I  might 

1  The  "thyrsus"  was  the  ivy- wreathed       orgies  of   Bacchus.     The  close  of  the 
spear  carried  by  the  revellers  in  the       poem  in  such  a  strain  is  very  daring. 


1639-40.]  LITERARY   PROJECTS.  95 

"  perhaps  leave  something  so  written  to  after-times  as  they 
"  should  not  willingly  let  it  die." 

That  this  thought  had  been  stirring  in  him  even  while  he 
was  in  Italy,  and  that  he  had  then,  moreover,  felt  a  fascination 
towards  one  particular  subject  as  fit  for  a  great  poem,  appears 
from  his  Latin  poem  of  compliment  to  Manso  in  Naples 
(see  Vol.  I.  pp.  816 — 819).  Speaking  of  the  long  celebrity 
of  that  nobleman  as  a  patron  of  letters,  and  especially  of  his 
kindness  to  the  poets  Tasso  and  Marini,  Milton  had  said  : — 

"  O  were  it  mine  to  have  granted  me  such  a  friend  in  the  future, 

One  that  had  known  so  well  to  honour  the  sons  of  Apollo, 

If  I  shall  ever  revoke  into  song  the  Kings  of  our  Island, 

Arthur  yet  from  his  underground  hiding  stirring  to  warfare, 

Or  shall  tell  of  those  that  sat  round  him  as  Knights  of  his  Table, 

Great-souled  heroes  unmatched,  and  (O  might  the  spirit  but  aid  me  !) 

Shiver  the  Saxon  phalanxes  under  the  shock  of  the  Britons ! " 

What  have  we  here  but  an  intimation,  written  at  Naples, 
that  Milton,  then  beginning  seriously  to  meditate  with  him- 
self what  might  be  his  future  career  in  literature,  was  turning 
over  in  his  mind  some  vague  scheme  of  a  heroic  poem,  the 
subject  of  which  should  be  taken  from  the  British  Arthurian 
legends  ?  It  is  interesting  to  have  it  thus  recorded  by  him- 
self that  he  had  been  fascinated  by  the  very  subject  to  which, 
as  by  an  indestructible  transmitted  instinct  of  the  British 
imagination,  our  greatest  English  poets  of  every  age,  from 
Chaucer  to  Tennyson,  have  reverted  so  fondly.  In  his  first 
fancies  as  to  the  nature  of  that  great  intended  work  of  his 
which,  if  he  succeeded  in  it,  posterity  should  not  willingly  let 
die,  he  had  thought  of  nothing  so  likely  as  a  poem  the  hero 
ut  'which  should  be  the  British  Arthur. 

So  much  appears  even  from  the  poem  to  Manso.  But  now 
connect  the  passage  in  that  poem,  and  the  passage  cited  from 
The  Reason  of  Church  Government,  with  the  passage  in  the 
•i ih  in  i a  Damonis  to  which  we  have  requested  attention. 
That  passage  shows  that  Milton,  after  his  return  to  England, 
not  only  still  retained  his  notion  of  a  subject  from  British 
legendary  history,  but  was  revolving  the  subject  deliberately 


96  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

with  a  view  to  its  treatment.  He  was  even  preluding  in  it. 
Observe  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  he  announces  this.  He 
has  been  speaking  of  Diodati's  profession, — of  his  promising 
career  in  that  profession,  so  suddenly  cut  short  by  a  fate 
against  which  medical  knowledge  had  been  of  no  avail ; 
and  then,  very  abruptly,  he  breaks  out  "  /  too — for  strangely 
my  pipe  for  some  time  past  had  been  sounding.  .  .  ."  The  con- 
nexion of  thought  evidently  is,  "  I  too  have  a  profession,  if 
it  may  be  so  called ;  and  what  is  the  career  that  lies  before 
me  in  it,  now  that  my  companion  is  gone  ? "  He  goes  on 
to  tell  of  something  that  he  has  in  contemplation.  He 
hesitates  about  telling  it,  and  makes  the  hesitation  apparent 
in  the  broken  structure  of  the  syntax  and  verse  for  a  line  or 
two.  It  is  some  time,  he  says,  since  "  his  pipe  has  been 
sounding  strains  of  an  unknown  strength," — i.e.  since  he  has 
been  conscious  of  a  seeking  after  some  higher  and  greater 
theme  for  his  muse  than  he  had  yet  ventured  upon  ;  and 
only  eleven  days  before  his  then  writing  a  strange  thing  had 
happened.  He  had  actually  made  a  beginning  in  the  new 
direction  !  Only  a  beginning,  however  ;  for  the  "  new  reeds  " 
he  was  trying  had  burst  asunder  almost  at  the  first  touch,  in- 
capable all  at  once  of  the  graver  sounds  that  were  expected 
from  them  !  Still  he  had  not  given  up  his  idea.  Shall  he 
tell  what  it  is  ?  Yes,  though  it  may  seern  over-boastful,  he 
will  :- 

"  /  have  a  theme  of  the  Trojans  cruising  our  southern  headlands 

Shaping  to  song,"  &c. 

And  so  on  he  proceeds,  through  the  next  seventeen  lines, 
explaining,  in  language  the  most  precise,  that  he  is  busy  over 
the  scheme  of  a  heroic  poem  which,  beginning  with  the 
arrival  of  the  mythical  Brutus  and  his  Trojans  in  Albion, 
shall  somehow  include  the  whole  cycle  of  the  old  British 
legends,  as  told  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  and  others,  down 
to  the  romance  of  Merlin  and  Arthur. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  main  purport  of  the  passage,  there 
is  an  incidental  piece  of  information.  It  is  that  the  in- 
tended poem  is  to  be  in  English,  and  that,  indeed,  he  has 
now,  for  all  the  main  purposes  of  poetry,  taken  leave  of  the 


1639-40.]  LITERARY  PROJECTS.  97 

Latin.  Should  he  be  spared  for  his  great  task,  he  says,  then 
his  old  pipe,  which  had  served  him  so  long,  would  be  hung 
up,  forgotten,  on  some  aged  pine-tree,  or  its  wonted  Latian 
music  would  have  to  be  exchanged  for  the  British  war- 
screech.  There  might  be  cause  for  regret  in  having  thus  to 
part  with  an  old  instrument !  What  then  ?  For  one  man  to 
excel  in  all  things  was  impossible,  and  he  had  made  his 
choice.  It  would  be  for  him  a  prize  sufficiently  great,  and 
ample  enough  distinction,  if,  remaining  altogether  unread  by 
the  foreigner,  he  could  have  his  own  fellow-countrymen  for  his 
audience,  and  could  think  of  himself  as  read,  or  to  be  read, 
along  the  streams  and  coasts  of  his  own  dear  Island,  from  the 
Channel  to  the  Orkneys,  and  most  of  all  where  the  Thames 
of  his  boyhood  washed  his  native  London.  What  have  we 
here  but  an  intimation  that  Milton,  even  in  his  comparatively 
late  day,  had  debated  with  himself  the  question  which  Dante 
and  other  Italians  had  debated  and  similarly  decided,  so 
long  before  ?  Whether  was  it  better  for  a  modern  poet  to 
continue  the  use  of  Latin  for  such  higher  works  of  genius 
as  he  might  undertake,  and  so  have  the  security,  as  it  then 
appeared,  of  a  learned  European  audience;  or  was  it  better  to 
adopt  his  own  vernacular,  and  commit  himself  to  its  unascer- 
tained and  narrower,  but  more  heart-stirring,  chances  ?  That 
Milton  had  discussed  this  question  we  are  authentically 
informed  by  himself,  not  only  in  the  Epitaphium  Damonis, 
but  also,  as  we  shall  find,  in  express  prose. 

So  far,  therefore,  we  are  able  to  represent  to  ourselves 
distinctly  enough  the  state  of  Milton's  mind  at  that  begin- 
ning of  the  winter  of  1639-40,  when,  entering  on  the  thirty  - 
third  year  of  his  age,  he  found  himself  again  in  England. 
Having  resumed  the  acquaintance  of  his  English  friends,  and 
recovered  from  the  first  shock  of  Diodati's  death,  he  was 
settling  down  to  that  life  of  purely  intellectual  labour, — 
the  life  of  a  man  of  letters,  as  we  should  now  call  it, — 
which  he  had  selected  as  the  most  suitable  for  him  in  the 
conditions  of  England  at  that  time,  and  which  the  kindness 
of  his  father  made  possible. 

VOL.  II  II 


98  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

That  Milton,  in  settling  himself  for  such  a  life,  should 
leave  Horton,  and  make  London  his  head-quarters,  will 
not  seem  unnatural.  He  had  contemplated  the  removal 
before  going  abroad,  as  appears  from  his  letter  to  Diodati 
of  the  23rd  of  September  1637,  in  which  he  had  spoken  of 
looking  out  for  chambers  in  one  of  the  Inns  of  Court.  Now, 
however,  there  were  family-circumstances  that  made  an 
arrangement  of  the  kind  convenient.  To  understand  what 
these  were,  we  must  reintroduce  Milton's  only  sister,  Anne, 
whom  we  saw  married  as  long  ago  as  1624  to  Mr.  Edward 
Phillips  of  the  Crown  Office,  in  Chancery,  and  on  the  death 
of  whose  first-born,  an  infant  girl,  in  the  severe  winter  of 
1625-6,  Milton,  then  a  Cambridge  undergraduate,  had  written 
the  verses  beginning  "  0  fairest  flower,  no  sooner  blown  than 
blasted.  "  Since  then  we  have  had  but  incidental  glimpses 
of  her, — the  last  being  in  April  1637,  when  we  found  her  as 
probably  in  attendance  on  her  old  and  invalid  father  at  Horton 
at  the  time  of  her  mother's  death,  but  then  no  longer  known 
as  Mrs.  Phillips,  but  as  Mrs.  Agar,  in  consequence  of  her 
marriage  with  a  second  husband.  This  double  marriage  of 
Milton's  sister  becomes  of  some  consequence  now ;  and  the 
facts  have  to  be  recapitulated. 

Her  first  husband,  Edward  Phillips,  had  died  in  the  autumn 
of  1631,  after  she  had  been  united  to  him  only  seven  years. 
The  proof  is  in  the  following  Will  and  its  attached  Probate, 
which  I  found  long  ago  in  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canter- 
bury : — 

"In  the  name  of  God,  Amen:  The  twelveth  day  of  August,  one 
thousand,  six  hundred,  thirty-one,  and  in  the  seaventli  yeare  of  the 
raigne  of  our  soveraigne  Lord,  King  Charles,  of  England,  &c.,  I, 
Edward  Phillips,  of  London,  gentleman,  being  weak  in  bodie,  but 
of  good  and  perfect  memory,  thanks  bee  to  the  Lord  therefore,  doe 
make  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament  in  manner  and  forme  follow- 
ing, vizt. — First,  I  bequeath  my  soul  into  the  hands  of  Allmiglitie 
God :  my  bodie  I  comitt  unto  the  earth  from  whence  it  came,  when 
it  shall  please  God  to  make  a  separation  between  my  bodie  and  my 
soule,  hoping  at  the  last  day,  through,  the  meritts  of  Christ,  myne 
onelie  Savyour,  it  shall  rise  againe  a  glorious  bodie  and  bee  united 
unto  my  soule  to  live  in  Heaven  eternally.  And,  for  such  worldly 
estate  as  the  Lord,  of  his  mercy,  hath  given  mee,  I  bequeath  as 


1639-40.]     MILTON'S  SISTER  AND  HIS  TWO  NKPIIKWS.  90 

followeth  : — Whereas  there  is  an  Inventory  of  such  good*  and 
chattelJs  as  were  left  by  my  deceased  father  with  my  mother  for  her 
use,  my  Will  is  that  these  goods  and  chattells  after  my  mother's 
decease  shall  bee  devyded  to  and  amongst  my  brothers  and  sisters 
then  living ;  and,  if  such  goods  and  chattells  shall  not  then  come 
to  the  sume  of  fourescore  pounds,  being  indifferently  praysed,  then 

I  desire,  my   loving   wife   Anne   to  make   it  upp  soe  much   that 
my  said  brothers  and  sisters,  being  foure  now  lyving,  may  have 
twcntie  pounds  apeece  after  my  mother's  decease.     The  rest  and 
residue   of  all  and   singular   my  goods,   chattells,   debts,   loaned, 
household  stuff,  and  all  other  things,  I  give  and  bequeeth  unto  my 
said   loving  wife  Anne,  whom  I  make  executrix  of  this  my  last 
Will.     In  witnesse   whereof  I  have   hereunto  sett   my   hand  and 
scale,  the  day  and  yeare  first  above  written. — Signed,  sealed,  de- 
livered and  published  by  the  said  EDWARD  PHILLIPS,  as  and  for  his 
last   Will  and  Testament  in   the   presence  of Jo :  MILTON, — 

I 1  KM:  1 1:  ROTH  WELL,  servant  to  the  said  Jo  :  Milton." 

The  probate  by  the  oath  of  administration  taken  by  the 
executrix  is  dated  the  12th  of  September  1631.  Phillips 
must  therefore  have  died  in  the  course  of  the  preceding 
month.  He  would  seem  to  have  been  then  still  a  compara- 
tively young  man,  as  his  mother  is  mentioned  as  living.  His 
widow,  at  all  events,  cannot  have  been  more  than  nine-and- 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  may  have  been  but  four- and  - 
twenty.1  Although  no  children  are  mentioned  in  the  Will, 
she  was  left  with  two  out  of  several  born  after  the  little 
"  fairest  flower  "  who  had  first  died.  These  were  two  boys  : 
the  elder,  called  Edward  after  his  father,  born  in  August 
1630,  and  therefore  only  a  year  old;2  and  the  younger 
probably  not  yet  born,  but  who,  when  he  did  appear,  was 
called  John,  after  his  grandfather  and  uncle.8 

During  her  first  husband's  life  the  residence  of  Mrs. 
Phillips  had  been  "  in  the  Strand,  near  Charing  Cross,  in  the 
Lilx-rty  of  Westminster,"  conveniently  near  to  the  Crown 
Office.  As  she  had  received  "  a  considerable  dowry  "  from 
her  father  on  her  marriage,4  and  as  the  property  left  her 
by  her  husband  seems  to  have  amounted  to  a  considerable 
increase  upon  that,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  she  continued  to 
live  in  this  house  with  her  two  boys  during  the  first  years 

»  See  Vol.  I.  p.  89.  *  Wood  :  loc.  cit. 

iwanl    Phillips;   Lifo  of  Mill..,,,  4  E,Jwar,i  Phillipa;  Life  of  Milton. 

an.l  Wood'a  Athon.  IV.  760. 


100  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  her  widowhood,  though  occasionally  visiting  her  father 
and  mother  at  Horton.  But  Mrs.  Phillips's  widowhood  was 
not  of  very  long  duration.  A  colleague  in  the  Crown  Office 
with  her  late  husband,  the  "intimate  friend"  of  that 
husband  so  long  as  he  lived,  and  the  successor  of  that 
husband  after  his  death  in  the  post  of  "  secondary  "  in  the 
office, — i.e.  of  Deputy  Clerk  of  the  Crown  under  Thomas 
Willys,  Esq.,  the  chief  clerk, — was  a  certain  Thomas  Agar, 
said  to  have  been  educated  (but  I  cannot  ascertain  on  what 
authority)  at  St.  Paul's  School,  about,  or  somewhat  before, 
the  time  when  Milton  was  there.  This  Thomas  Agar,  when 
he  succeeded  to  his  friend  Phillips's  post  in  the  Crown  Office, 
was  himself  a  married  man, — his  wife  being  a  Mary  Rugeley, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas  Eugeley,  a  highly  esteemed  London 
physician  of  that  day.  This  wife  was  certainly  alive  in 
1633,  by  which  time  she  had  borne  to  Agar  a  daughter 
named  Ann.  But,  at  some  subsequent  date  which  I  have  not 
been  able  precisely  to  determine,  she  died,  leaving  Agar  a 
widower.  When  he  thought  of  marrying  again,  it  seems  to 
have  been  in  every  way  a  suitable  arrangement  that  he  and 
the  widow  of  his  friend  Phillips  should  come  together.  So, 
at  all  events,  it  happened.  Mrs.  Phillips  became  Mrs.  Agar, 
and  had  two  daughters  in  this,  her  second  marriage,  one 
named  Mary  and  the  other  Ann,  half-sisters  of  her  two  little 
Phillipses  by  the  first  marriage.1 

For  at  least  a  year  before  Milton  went  abroad  on  his 
Italian  tour,  his  effective  brother-in-law  as  we  have  seen 
(ante  Vol.  I.  pp.  637-8)  had  been  Mr.  Thomas  Agar.  What- 
ever may  have  been  Phillips's  personal  merits,  there  had  been 
no  loss  to  the  family,  in  point  of  worldly  respectability,  by 
his  widow's  second  marriage.  As  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown's 
deputy,  Agar,  like  Phillips  before  him,  had  to  be  in  frequent 
attendance  on  the  Lord  Keeper,  to  administer  oaths  of  alle- 
giance to  new  Chancery  officials,  to  see  to  the  issue  of  royal 
proclamations  and  of  commissions  of  the  peace  and  the  like, 

1  So  far  as  the  particulars  in  this  a  Heralds'  visitation,  of  London  1633-4, 

paragraph  are  not  gathered  from  Ed-  given  in  Harl.  MS.  1476,  f.  152,  and 

ward  Phillips's  own  account  in  his  Life  (2)  a  memoir  of  the  physician  Kugeley 

of  Milton,  or  from  Wood's  Lives  of  the  in  No.   2149   of   the  Ayscough   MSS. 

two  Phillipses  in  his  Athetue  (IV.  760,  et  which  consists  of  memoirs  of  English 

seq.),  they  are  the  fruit  of  very  miscel-  physicians  of  the  seventeenth  century, 

laneous  researches,  which  led  me  to  (1)  by  a  Baldwin  Harvey,  who  died  1676, 
a  pedigree  of  the  Rugeley  family,  in 


1639-40.]     MILTON'S  SISTER  AND  HIS  TWO  NEPHEWS.          101 

and  also  to  the  issue  (though  as  yet  Agar  had  had  no  taste  of 
this  peculiar  duty  of  his  office)  of  new  Parliamentary  writs. 
Much  of  his  handwriting  is  still  to  be  seen  in  what  I  believe 
is  the  oldest  book  of  office-business  that  has  been  preserved 
in  the  Crown  Office,  —  a  book  of  entries  of  administrations  of 
oaths  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown  or  his  deputy  from  1639 
onwards  ;  and  I  have  found  his  handwriting  also  in  receipts 
that  had  been  issued  from  the  Crown  Office  to  the  King's 
printer  for  so  many  copies,  delivered  into  the  office,  of  such 
and  such  royal  proclamations.1  For  convenient  attendance 
upon  these  duties,  Agar  must  have  had  his  house  in  the 
same  neighbourhood,  of  Westminster  or  the  Strand,  in  which 
Phillips  had  resided.  If  his  brother-in-law,  the  poet,  was  in 
the  habit  of  looking  in  here,  there  was  a  chance  of  his  ex- 
tending his  acquaintance  by  the  addition  of  Agar's  relatives 
by  his  first  marriage,  the  Rugeleys,  with  whom  I  have  proof 
that  Agar  still  kept  up  a  very  close  connexion.  Among  these 
was  the  old  physician  Rugeley  himself,  and  his  three  sons, 
Thomas,  Luke,  and  George,  the  eldest  of  whom  had  entered 
his  father's  profession  with  good  hopes  of  success.2 

Milton's  resolution,  in  the  winter  of  1639-40,  to  take  up 
his  abode  definitely  in  London,  seems  to  have  fitted  in  with 
his  sister  Mrs.  Agar's  views  as  to  the  education  of  her  two 
little  sons  by  her  first  marriage.  "  Soon  after  his  return," 
says  Edward,  the  elder  of  these  Phillipses,  in  his  life  of  his 
uncle,  "  he  took  him  a  lodging  in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard,  at 
"  the  house  of  one  Russel,  a  tailor,  where  he  first  undertook 
"  the  education  and  instruction  of  his  sister's  two  sons,  the 
"  younger  whereof  had  been  wholly  committed  to  his  charge 
"  and  care."  This  seems  to  mean  that,  while,  by  the  arrange- 

1  By  the  courtesy  of  the  authorities  are  mentioned  in  the  text. 

of  the  Crown  Office  I  had  access  to  the  *  The   proof  of  the  continued  oon- 

ropords  there,  to  search  for  traces  of  nexion  of  Agar  with  the  Rugeleys  is 

Milton's  brothers-in-law.     The  earliest  from  Agar's  will,  found  by  mo  at  Doc- 

office-book  being,  as  I  have  stated  in  tors'  Commons,  and  which  need  not  at 

the  text,   one  commencing   with    the  present  be  cited  for  more  than  the  fact 

year   1639,  I   could  find   no  traces  of  that  so  late  as  1671  very  affectionate 

rhillipH'Hhand  ;  but  in  that  book  Agar's  mention  is  made  by  Agar  of  one  of  the 


appeared  sufficiently.     lit  the   Bntish  Rugeleys  as  his  life-long  friend.     The 

MuHeum  also  (Arid.   MSS.  5756,  ff.  128  older  physician  Rugeley  died  Juno  21, 

ft  **/.),  I  found  at  least  fifteen  sped-  1656,  and  wo*  buried  in  St.  Bntolph's 

mens   of    Agar's  handwriting    in    the  Church,    Aldersgate    (MS.    Ayscough, 

form  of  such  Crown-Office  receipts  as  2149). 


102  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

ment  of  their  mother  and  stepfather,  both  the  boys  were  to 
receive  lessons  from  their  uncle  in  his  lodging  in  St.  Bride's 
Churchyard,  the  younger,  who  was  his  godson  or  nameson, 
was  either  to  stay  with  him  entirely,  or,  in  some  particular 
way,  to  be  under  his  complete  control  and  tuition.  The  little 
Johnny  Phillips,  so  made  over  to  his  uncle's  care,  was  only 
eight  years  of  age  ;  and  his  brother  Edward,  who  was  to  share 
his  lessons,  was  not  much  over  nine.  For  a  bachelor,  living 
in  lodgings,  the  arrangement  might  not  seem  the  most  con- 
venient ;  but,  whether  for  family  reasons  or  on  personal 
grounds,  Milton  appears  to  have  made  no  difficulty  about  it. 
Leaving  his  father,  with  Christopher  and  Christopher's  wife, 
at  Horton,  he  took  up  his  quarters,  for  a  time  at  least,  in 
the  tailor's  house  in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard.  While  Phillips 
gives  the  locality  simply  as  "  St.  Bride's  Churchyard,"  sub- 
sequent biographers  have  generally  called  it  "  St.  Bride's 
Churchyard,  Fleet  Street."  But  Wood  says  "  St.  Bride's 
Churchyard,  near  Fleet  Street  "  ;  and  in  the  old  maps  I  find 
the  site  of  at  least  a  portion  of  St.  Bride's  Churchyard 
marked  as  in  that  part  of  the  present  Farringdon  Street 
which  lies  between  Fleet  Lane  and  Stonecutters'  Street.  Near 
the  foot  of  the  present  Fleet  Street,  at  all  events,  in  rather 
close  vicinity  to  Fleet  Ditch,  but  with  the  river  on  one 
hand,  and  in  view  of  Ludgate  Hill,  old  St.  Paul's,  and  the 
whole  City  region  of  his  native  Bread  Street,  did  Milton,  in 
the  winter  of  1639-40,  enter  upon  a  new  period  of  his  life. 

The  teaching  of  the  two  boys  cannot  have  been  so  en- 
grossing an  occupation  but  that  there  was  ample  time  for 
those  studies  and  literary  preparations  of  Milton's  own  to 
which  he  had  resolved  now  strenuously  to  betake  himself. 
With  a  view  to  these  studies  and  preparations,  he  had  his 
books,  though  not  all  of  them,  brought  to  his  new  lodging, 
and  here  also  he  surrounded  himself  once  more  with  his 
private  papers  and  manuscripts.  Among  the  manuscripts  on 
which  he  would  set  most  value  were  those  which  contained 
the  rough  drafts  or  copies  of  his  own  compositions.  One  or 
two  of  them  had  been  published,  and  were  so  far  safe, — in 


1639-40.]          LODGING  IN    ST.   BRIDE'S  CHURCHYARD. 


103 


especial,  the  very  best  of  them,  Comus  and  Lycidas ;  and  copies 
of  some  of  the  others,  doubtless,  had  been  given  to  friends 
in  manuscript.  Still  it  was  not  unimportant  that  his  own 
copies  or  original  drafts  should  be  carefully  preserved.  We 
have  already  had  evidence  that  Milton  proceeded  on  this 
principle,  and,  however  much  he  erased  or  altered,  rarely  or 
never  destroyed  anything  he  had  once  written.  In  St.  Bride's 
Churchyard,  accordingly,  we  may  assume  that  he  had  the 
copies  or  drafts  beside  him,  in  his  own  hand,  of  all  that  he  had 
then  written.  Not,  perhaps,  in  a  shapely  condition  in  one 
fairly- transcribed  book,  but  in  various  books  as  they  had 
been  originally  penned,  or  in  loose  sheets  and  papers.  We 
have  the  means  of  knowing,  however,  that  there  was  one 
book,  or  continuous  set  of  sheets  of  the  same  folio-sized 
paper,  of  which  Milton  made  particular  use  about  this  time. 
This  was  a  book,  or  set  of  sheets  already  partly  occupied 
with  the  original  drafts  of  four  of  the  little  pieces  of  his 
Cambridge  period, — the  Song  At  a  Solemn  Mustek,  the 
"  Letter  to  a  Friend "  and  accompanying  Sonnet  on  being 
arrived  to  the  age  of  Twenty-three,  and  the  verses  On  Time 
and  Upon  the  Circumcision, — and  with  the  more  important 
original  drafts  of  the  Arcades,  Comus,  and  Lycidas.  It 
was  of  a  blank  space  in  this  book,  immediately  following  the 
draft  of  Lycidas,  or  on  some  vacant  sheets  of  this  set,  after- 
wards numbered  and  attached  to  the  others  in  that  order, 
that  he  proceeded  to  avail  himself  for  the  purpose  of  such  new 
scribblings  as  he  first  found  occasion  for  after  he  had  settled 
in  his  new  lodging.  The  proof  remains  in  the  scribblings 
themselves.  They  form  part  of  that  volume  of  Milton's 
manuscripts  which  has  long  been  one  of  the  most  precious 
treasures  of  the  Library  of  Trinity  College  in  Cambridge.1 


1  This  volume,   kept  under  a  glass 
we  aa  one  of  the  most  valuable  curio- 
of  the  Library,  is  a  thin  folio, 
bound  in   rod   morocco  and  inscribed 
»D  the  back  in  gilt  letters  " Potmata 
"  ("  Manuscript 

Poems  of  Milton  ).     Inside  is  pasted 
this  account  of  the   volume  : 

Coll.  Cantab. :  Membra  kofc  entdi- 

•  el  pcfM  dirini  podae,  olim  mitert 

disjecta  el  jxusim  tjntrta,  fXMtoa  verdfor- 


n nit m  denuo  collect* 
cjtu    Coll.    »ncio,    et 


tutto  invtnta  et  in 
•  Carolo  Mourn, 

inter  Mixtllanea  repot  Un,  df  incept  ed 
tntd  Atcu.it  rflii/toMteriurivoi*ti  Thomat 
Clarke,  nujterriml  kvjutce  Collegii,  HUHC 
Templi,  Londini,  focitu  : 
1736"  ("Library  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge :  These  fragments  of  the 
most  learned  and  all  but  divine  pott, 
formerly  miserably  separated  and  scat- 
tered about,  but  afterwards  accidentally 


104  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

An  examination  of  the  book,  and  of  seven  of  its  pages  in 
particular,  furnishes  us  with  the  means  of  far  more  exact 
information  than  was  to  be  hoped  for  respecting  the  course  of 
Milton's  literary  plans  and  studies,  not  only  after  his  first 
removal  to  St.  Bride's  Churchyard,  but  also,  as  I  believe, 
during  the  whole  term  of  his  residence  there,  and  for  some 
time  beyond. 

Milton,  it  appears,  either  found  reason  very  soon  to 
abandon  his  scheme  of  a  heroic  poem  of  legendary  British 
History,  or  was  not  so  pledged  to  that  scheme  but  that  he 
would  let  his  mind  range  for  a  time  among  other  schemes, 
with  a  view  at  last  to  the  discovery  of  the  truly  splendid 
one  to  which  his  heart  would  leap.  A  subject  of  British 
History  still  seemed  to  him  to  satisfy  most  of  the  conditions  ; 
but  might  there  not  be  grander  scope,  for  one  whose  notions 
of  the  true  end  and  duty  of  all  literature  were  so  high  and 
solemn  as  his  were,  in  some  Scriptural  subject  ?  Again,  the 
epic  form  was  a  noble  one,  and  precedents  in  that  form  were 
among  the  noblest ;  but  what  if  the  dramatic,  or  some  com- 
bination of  the  dramatic  and  the  lyric,  should  be  the  fittest  ? 
What  we  see  in  the  seven  pages  of  the  Cambridge  MSS.  to 

found  and  at  length  collected  into  one  by  of   some   distinction    in   the    reign   of 

Charles  Mason,  Fellow  of  that  College,  James  I.  and  tutor  to  Prince  Henry, 

and  placed  among  its  Miscellanies,  Tho-  He  was  born  about  1617,  was  educated 

mas  Clarke,  very  lately  Fellow  of  the  at  Trinity  College,  assumed  the  name 

College,  but  now  of  the  Middle  Temple,  of  Puckering  about  the  middle  of  the 

London,  desired  to  have  preserved  with  seventeenth  century  (after  his  mater- 

the  respect  due  to  them  :  1736.").    The  nal   uncle,    Sir   Thomas   Puckering   of 

Charles  Mason,  who  thus  first  took  the  Warwickshire,    son    of    Lord    Keeper 

pains  to    collect    the    fragments,    gra-  Puckering),    and    was   known,    during 

duated  B.A.  in  1722,  M.A.  in  1726,  and  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  as  a 

was  afterwards  Doctor  of  Divinity  and  studious    and     ingenious     gentleman. 

Woodwardian  Professor  of  Geology  in  He  retained  so  strong  affection  for  the 

the    University     of     Cambridge  ;     the  College  in  which  he  had  been  educated, 

Thomas  Clarke,  to  whom  belongs  the  and  where  a  son  of  his  who  predeceased 

farther  honour   of  having   seen   them  him   had  also  studied,    that,    "in   his 

properly  bound  and  taken  care  of,  took  eightieth  year,"  according  to  Warton, 

his  B.A.  degree  in  1724,   his  M.A.   in  "  he  desired  to  be  readmitted,  and,  re- 

1728,  and  was  afterwards  Knight,  and  siding  there  a  whole  summer,  presented 

Master  of  the  Rolls.     But  where  did  to  the  New  Library,  just  then  finished, 

Mason  find  the  fragments  ?     He  found  his  own  collection  of  books,  amounting 

them  already  in  Trinity  College,  lying  to  near    4,000  volumes."    This    must 

scattered  among  MSS.  which  had  been  have  been  about  1697,  or  three  years 

given  to  the  College,  many  years  before,  before  his  death,  which  occurred  Jan. 

by  a  Sir    Henry   Newton  Puckering,  22,  1700,  in  the   83rd  year  of  his  age 

Baronet.     This  person,  whose  original  (see  his  epitaph  in  Dugdale's  Warwick- 

name  had   been  Henry  Newton,   was  shire,  by  Thomas,  I.  445). 
the  son  of  Sir  Adam  Newton,  a  man 


1639-40.]  LITERARY   PROJECTS.  105 

which  we  have  just  referred  is  precisely  this  interesting 
phenomenon  of  Milton  discussing  the  best  form  for  his  great 
work,  and  seeking  about  for  a  subject.  Or,  rather,  it  seems 
to  have  been  already  determined  by  him  that  the/orm  should 
be  that  of  a  Tragedy  with  a  chorus,  after  the  ancient  Greek 
model,  and  the  hesitation  seems  to  have  been  mainly  as  to 
the  subject  for  such  a  Tragedy.  Should  it  be  from  Scripture, 
or  should  it  be  from  British  History ;  and,  on  either  supposi- 
tion, which  subject  out  of  all  that  might  be  found  should  be 
selected  ? 

The  method  adopted  by  Milton  in  these  circumstances  is 
very  characteristic.  He  undertakes  a  course  of  continuous 
reperusal  of  the  historical  parts  of  the  Bible,  with  one  or 
two  of  the  most  learned  commentators  at  hand  for  con- 
sultation ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  undertakes  a  continuous 
perusal  of  the  History  of  Britain  Ijefore  the  Conquest,  as 
told  in  Ralph  Holinshed's  Chronicles  (1st  edit.,  2  vols.  fol., 
1577 ;  2nd  edit.  2  vols.  foL,  1586-7)  and  Speed's  Chronicle 
(1st  edit,  fol.,  1611 ;  2nd  edit.  1623  ;  3rd  edit.  1632),  but 
with  reference  at  successive  points  to  the  older  Latin  writers, 
Bede,  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  and  William  of  Malmesbury. 
He  reads  rapidly,  getting  over  a  considerable  portion  every 
day ;  and  steadily,  as  he  reads,  he  jots  down  the  subjects 
that  occur  to  him,  sometimes  in  the  form  of  brief  notes  or 
mere  headings,  but  at  other  times,  when  subjects  arrest  him 
by  their  superior  capability,  in  the  form  of  detailed  sketches 
or  draft-plans.  In  this  manner  he  goes  on, — sometimes  turn- 
ing back  or  setting  down  an  afterthought, — till  he  has  filled 
seven  pages  with  a  list  of  about  ninety-nine  subjects  in  all, 
of  which  sixty-one  are  Scriptural,  and  thirty-eight  are  from 
British  History.  The  following  is  a  complete  digest  of  this 
list,  in  the  most  intelligible  form  I  have  been  able  to  devise, 
after  much  inspection  of  the  closely-written  and  much-cor- 
rected original,  and  with  lithographed  facsimiles  of  that 
original  before  me.1  Every  scrap  of  Milton's  own  penning 

1  Them   interesting  facsimile*  may  number  of  copies  were  issued  in  1861 

be  soon  in  tho  Mplendid  volume,  entitled  by    the  late  Samuel    Leigh    Sothoby 

"lititf.s  in  tho  Elucidation  of  tho  Mr.    Sothoby,    in  addition     to    other 

Autograph  of  Milton,"  of  which  a  small  specimen*  of  Milton's  autograph,  from 


106  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF   HIS   TIME. 

is  preserved  in  the  digest,  and  is  placed  within  inverted 
commas ;  and  all  such  matter  follows,  under  each  heading, 
in  the  same  order  as  in  the  original,  save  that  subjects  or 
schemes  that  occurred  to  Milton  as  afterthoughts,  and  were 
jotted  down  out  of  their  proper  chronological  places,  are 
inserted  in  those  places  and  distinguished  by  asterisks. 
Whatever  is  without  inverted  commas,  or  is  inserted  within 
brackets,  is  explanatory. 


I.     SCRIPTURAL   SUBJECTS. 
.  I.  FROM  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

1.  Paradise  Lost.  Of  this  subject  there  are  four  Drafts  : 
three  of  them  continuous,  and  filling  the  first  page  of  the  Jottings 
(numbered  35  in  the  volume),  where  they  are  written  column-wise ; 
and  the  fourth  occurring  as  an  afterthought  on  the  6th  page  of 
the  Jottings  (numbered  40  in  the  volume). 

(1)  The  first  Draft  consists  merely  of  a  list  of  dramatis  personce, 
as  follows  : — "  The  Persons  :  Michael ;  Heavenly  Love  ;  Chorus  of 
"  Angels ;    Lucifer ;    Adam    [and]    Eve,   with   the    Serpent ;    Con- 
"  science ;    Death ;    Labour,  Sickness,  Discontent,  Ignorance,  with 
"  others,  [as]  Mutes  ;  Faith  ;  Hope  ;  Charity." 

(2)  The  foregoing  Draft  having  been  erased  by  two  cross  strokes 
of  the  pen,  a  second  Draft,  written  parallel  with  it,  takes  its  place, 
as  follows  : — "  The  Persons  :  Michael  or  Moses  [the  words  '  Michael 
or '   are  then   deleted,   so  as  to  leave   '  Moses '  as  the  preferable 
Person  for  the  Drama]  ;  Justice,  Mercy,  Wisdom  ;  Heavenly  Love  ; 
"  The  Evening  Star  Hesperus  ;  Chorus  of  Angels  ;  Lucifer ;  Adam  ; 
"  Eve  ;  Conscience ;  Labour,  Sickness,  Discontent,  Ignorance,  Fear, 
"  Death,  [as]  Mutes  ;  Faith  ;  Hope  ;  Charity." 

(3)  The  foregoing  having  also  been  crossed  out  with  the  pen, 
there  follows  a  third  Draft,  which  is  more  complete  and  is  left 
standing,   as    follows:  —  "Paradise   Lost.      The   Persons:  —  Moses 

irpoXoyi^ti  [prologuises],  recounting  how  he  assumed  his  true  body ; 
that  it  corrupts  not,  because  of  his  [being]  with  God  in  the 
Mount ;  declares  the  like  of  Enoch  and  Eliah,  besides  the  purity 
of  the  place — that  certain  pure  winds,  dews,  and  clouds  preserve 
it  from  corruption ;  whence  exhorts  to  the  sight  of  God ;  tells 
they  cannot  see  Adam  in  the  state  of  innocence,  by  reason  of  their 
sin. — [Act  I.]  Justice,  Mercy,  Wisdom,  debating  what  should 

the     Cambridge     volume     and    other  Cambridge  volume  while  he  was  about 

sources,  gives  all   the  seven  pages  of  it,  and  retrench  the  text  of  his  book 

Jottings  in  facsimile.  It  is  a  pity  he  in    favour    of    that   more   mechanical 

did   not    simply    facsimile  the   whole  reproduction. 


1639-40.J       I.ITKKAUV    IKOJECTS  :    JOTTINGS  OF  SUBJECTS.       107 

"become  of  Man  it  In  tall.  Chorus  of  Angels  sing  a  hymn  of 
44  the  Creation. — Act  II. :  Heavenly  Love ;  Evening  Star  ;  Chorus 
44  sing  the  marriage-song,  and  <k->< -rihe  Paradise. — Act  III. :  Luci- 
44  fer,  contriving  Adam's  ruin ;  Chorus  fears  for  Adam  and  relates 
44  Lucifer's  rebellion  and  fall. — Act  IV. :  Adam,  Eve,  fallen ;  Con- 
44  science  cites  them  to  God's  examination ;  Chorus  bewails  and 
44  tells  the  good  Adam  hath  lost. — Act  V. :  Adam  and  Eve,  driven 
4  out  of  Paradise,  presented  by  an  Angel  with  Labour,  Grief, 
*  Hatred,  Envy,  War,  Famine,  Pestilence,  Sickness,  Discontent, 
4  Ignorance,  Fear,  [as]  Mutes,  to  whom  he  gives  their  names ;  like- 
4  wise  Winter,  Heat,  Tempest,  «tc. ;  Death,  entered  into  the  world  ; 
4  Faith,  Hope,  Charity  comfort  him  and  instruct  him  [Adam] ; 
4  Chorus  briefly  conclude** 

(4)*  The  fourth  Draft,  separated  from  the  foregoing  by  several 
pages,  is  as  follows: — "Adam  Unparadised:  The  Angel  Gabriel, 
"  either  descending  or  entering — showing,  since  this  globe  was 
"  created,  his  frequency  as  much  on  Earth  as  in  Heaven— describes 
44  Paradise.  Next  the  Chorus,  showing  the  reason  of  his  coming 
"  — to  keep  his  watch,  after  Lucifer's  rebellion,  by  command  from 
44  God ;  and  withal  expressing  his  desire  to  see  and  know  more 
44  concerning  this  excellent  new  creature,  Man.  The  Angel 
44  Gabriel,  as  by  his  name  signifying  a  Prince  of  Power,  tracing 
44  Paradise  with  a  more  free  office,  passes  by  the  station  of  the 
4'  Chorus,  and,  desired  by  them,  relates  what  he  knew  of  Man,  as 
44  the  creation  of  Eve,  with  their  love  and  marriage. — After  this, 
4i  Lucifer  appears  after  his  overthrow,  bemoans  himself,  seeks 
44  revenge  on  Man.  The  Chorus  prepare  resistance  at  his  first 
44  approach.  At  last,  after  discourse  of  enmity  on  either  side,  he 
44  departs ;  whereat  the  Chorus  sings  of  the  battle  and  victory  in 
44  Heaven  against  him  and  his  accomplices,  as  before,  after  the  first 
44  Act,  was  sung  a  hymn  of  the  Creation. — Here  again  may  appear 
44  Lucifer,  relating  and  insulting  in  what  he  had  done  to  the 
44  destruction  of  Man.  Man  next  and  Eve,  having  by  this  time 
44  been  seduced  by  the  Serpent,  appears  confusedly,  covered  with 
44  leaves.  Conscience,  in  a  shape,  accuses  him.  Justice  cites  him 
44  to  the  place  whither  Jehovah  called  for  him.  In  the  inean- 
44  while  the  Chorus  entertains  the  stage,  and  is  informed  by  some 
"Angel  the  manner  of  his  Fall.— Here  the  Chorus  bewails 
"  Adam's  fall.  Adam  then,  and  Eve,  return  and  accuse  one  another ; 
44  but  especially  Adam  lays  the  blame  to  his  wife — is  stubborn  in 
*4  his  offence.  Justice  appears,  reasons  with  him,  convinces  him. 
44  The  Chorus  admonisheth  Adam,  and  bids  him  beware  by  Lucifer's 
44  example  of  impenitence. — The  Angel  is  sent  to  banish  them  out 
44  of  Paradise  ;  but,  before,  causes  to  pass  before  his  eyes,  in  shapes, 
44  a  masque  of  all  the  evils  of  this  life  and  world.  He  is  humbled, 
44  relents,  despairs.  At  last  apprars  Mercy,  comforts  him,  promises 
44  the  Messiah;  then  calls  in  l-'uith.  Hope,  and  Charity  ;  instructs 
"  him.  He  repents,  gives  God  the  glory,  submits  to  his  penalty. 


108  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  The  Chorus  briefly  concludes. Compare  this  with  the  former 

"  Draft." 

'These    three   subjects    are   jotted 
down  together  in  a  little  space  in 


2.  "Adam  in  Banishment 

3.  "The  Flood" 

4.  "  A  bram  in  Egypt  " 


the  same  page  with  the  first  three 
Drafts  of  Paradise  Lost,  under  the 
heading  "  Other  Tragedies."  Sub- 


ject 3  is  re-entered  in  the  next 
Vpage  as  "  The  Deluge" 

5*.  Abram  from  Morea,  or  Isaac  Redeemed."  This  subject 
appears  as  an  afterthought,  on  the  5th  page  of  the  Jottings  (num- 
bered 39  in  the  volume),  where  this  scheme  accompanies  the  title : 
"The  oeconomy  may  be  thus: — The  fifth  or  sixth  day  after 
"  Abraham's  departure,  Eleazer,  Abram's  steward,  first  alone,  and 
"  then  with  the  Chorus,  discourse  of  Abraham's  strange  voyage, 
"  their  mistress's  sorrow  and  perplexity,  accompanied  with  fright- 
"  ful  dreams ;  and  tell  the  manner  of  his  rising  by  night,  taking 
"  his  servants  and  his  son  with  him.  Next  may  come  forth  Sarah 
"  herself  after  the  Chorus,  or  Ismael,  or  Agar.  Next,  some 
"  shepherd  or  company  of  merchants,  passing  through  the  Mount 
"  in  the  time  that  Abram  was  in  the  mid-work,  relate  to  Sarah 
"  what  they  saw  :  hence  lamentations,  fears,  wonders.  The  matter 
"  in  the  meanwhile  divulged,  Aner  or  Eshcol  or  Mamre,  Abram's 
"  confederates,  come  to  the  house  of  Abram  to  be  more  certain,  or  to 
"  bring  news,  in  the  meanwhile  discoursing,  as  the  world  would,  of 
"  such  an  action  divers  ways — bewailing  the  fate  of  so  noble  a  man 
"  fallen  from  his  reputation,  either  through  divine  justice,  or  supersti- 
"  tion,  or  coveting  to  do  some  notable  act  through  zeal.  At  length  a 
"  servant,  sent  from  Abram,  relates  the  truth  ;  and,  last,  he  himself 
"  comes  in  with  a  great  train  of  Melchizedek,  whose  shepherds,  being 
"  secret  eye-witnesses  of  all  passages,  had  related  to  their  master, 
"  and  he  conducted  his  friend  Abraham  home  with  joy." 

6.  "Sodom"  This  mere  heading  is  inserted  in  its  order  at 
the  top  of  page  2  of  the  Jottings,  but  the  subject  is  re-entered  on 
subsequent  pages  as  follows  : — *  "  Sodom  (the  title  Cupids  Funeral 
"  Pile  [or]  Sodom  Burning).  The  scene  before  Lot's  Gate.  The 
"  Chorus  consists  of  Lot's  shepherds  come  to  the  city  about  some 
"  affairs.  [They]  await  in  the  evening  their  master's  return  from 
"  his  evening  walk  round  toward  the  city-gates.  He  brings  with 
"  him  two  young  men,  or  youths,  of  noble  form ;  after  likely  dis- 
"  courses,  prepares  for  their  entertainment.  By  then  supper  is 
"  ended,  the  gallantry  of  the  town  pass  by  in  procession  with  music 
"  and  song  to  the  temple  of  Venus  Urania,  or  Peor ;  and,  under- 
"  standing  of  two  noble  strangers  arrived,  they  send  two  of  their 
"  choicest  youth,  with  the  priest,  to  invite  them  to  their  city- 
"  solemnities,  it  being  an  honour  that  their  city  had  decreed  to  all 
"  fair  personages,  as  being  sacred  to  their  goddess.  The  Angels, 
"  being  asked  by  the  priest  whence  they  are,  say  they  are  of 


1639-40.]       LITERARY   PROJECTS:    JOTTINGS  OF  SUBJECTS.        109 

**  Salem  :  the  priest  inveighs  against  the  strict  reign  of  Melchi- 
"zedek.  Lot,  that  knows  their  drift,  answers  thwartly  at  last. 
11  Of  which  notice  given  to  the  whole  assembly,  they  hasten  thither, 
"  tax  him  of  presumption,  singularity,  breach  of  city-customs ;  in 
"  fine,  offer  violence.  The  Chorus  of  shepherds  prepare  resistance 
"  in  their  master's  defence,  calling  the  rest  of  the  serviture ;  but, 
"  [they]  being  forced  to  give  back,  the  Angels  open  the  door,  rescue 
"  Lot,  discover  themselves,  warn  him  to  gather  his  friends  and 
"  sons-in-law  out  of  the  city.  He  goes,  and  returns  as  having  met 
"  with  some  incredulous.  Some  other  friend,  or  son-in-law,  out  of 
"  the  way  when  Lot  came  to  his  house,  overtakes  him  to  know 
"  his  business.  Here  is  disputed  of  incredulity  of  divine  judgments, 
"  and  such  like  matter.  At  last  is  described  the  i>arting  from  the 
"  city.  The  Chorus  depart  with  their  master.  The  Angels  do  the 
"  deed  with  all  dreadful  execution.  The  King  and  Nobles  of  the 
"  city  may  come  forth  and  serve  to  set  out  the  terror — a  Chorus  of 
"  Angels  concluding,  and  the  Angels  relating  the  event  of  Lot's 
"journey,  and  of  his  wife.  The  first  Chorus,  beginning,  may 
"  relate  the  course  of  the  city — each  evening  every  one  with 
"  mistress,  or  Ganymede,  gitterning  along  the  streets,  or  solacing  on 
"  the  banks  of  Jordan,  or  down  the  stream.  At  the  priest's  inviting 
"  the  Angels  to  the  solemnity,  the  Angels,  pitying  their  beauty, 

*  may  dispute  of  love,  and  how  it  differs  from  lust,  seeking  to  win 

*  them.     In  the  last  scene,  to  the  King  and  nobles,  when  the  fierce 
'  thunders  begin  aloft,   the  Angel  appears  all   girt  with  flames, 
1  which  he  saith  are  the  flames  of  true  love,  and  tells  the  King, 
1  who  falls  down  with  terror,  his  just  suffering,  as  also  Athane's 

*  (i.e.  Gener,  Lot's  son-in-law),  for  despising  the  continual  admo- 

*  nitions  of  Lot      Then,  calling  to  the  thunders,  lightning,  and 
'  fires,  he  bids  them  hear  the  call  and  command  of  God  to  come 

"  and  destroy  a  godless  nation.  He  brings  them  down,  with  some 
"  short  warning  to  other  nations  to  take  heed."  [The  impression, 
inevitable  at  one  or  two  points  in  this  scheme,  that  Milton  was 
thinking,  analogically,  of  London  and  England,  is  strengthened  by 
the  fact  that  the  last  four  sentences  are  additions,  crammed  in, 
after  the  rest  had  been  written,  and  in  a  smaller  hand.] 

7.  "Dinah.      Vide  Euseb.  Praeparat.  Evang.   1.  9,  c.  22.     The 
"  Persons  :    Dinah  ;    Debora,   Rebecca's  Nurse ;    Jacob  ;    Simeon  ; 
"  Levi ;  Hamor ;  Sechem  ;  Counsellors  2  ;  Nuncius ;  Chorus." 

8.  "  Thamar  Cuephorwa  [i.e.  Thamar  Pregnant] ;  where  Judah 
"  is  found  to  have  been  the  author  of  that  crime  which  he  con- 
"  demned  in  Thamar.     Thamar  excused  in  what  she  attempted." 

9.  "  The  Golden  Calf,  or  the  Massacre  in  Horeb." 

10.  "The  Quails:  Numb,  xi." 

11.  "  The  Murmurers :  Numb,  xiv." 

12.  "Corah,  Dathan,  dr.:  Numb.  xvi.  xvii." 

13.  "  Moabitides :  Numb,  xxv."     This  subject,  so  occurring  as  a 
heading  in  its  natural  order,  is  repeated  on  a  subsequent  page 


110  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

thus  : — *  "  Moabitides  or  Phineas :  The  epitasis  whereof  may  lie  in 
"  the  contention  first  between  the  father  of  Zimri  and  Eleazer 
"  whether  he  [ought]  to  have  slain  his  son  without  law — next,  the 
"  ambassadors  of  the  Moabites  expostulating  about  Cosbi,  a  stranger 
"  and  a  noblewoman,  slain  by  Phineas.  It  may  be  argued  about 
"  reformation  and  punishment  illegal,  and,  as  it  were,  by  tumult. 
"  After  all  arguments  driven  home,  then  the  word  of  the  Lord  may 
"  be  brought,  acquitting  and  approving  Phineas." 

14.  "Achan:  Josua  vii.  and  viii." 

15.  "  Josuah  in  Gibeon:  Josu.  x." 

16.  "  Gideon  Idolodastes  [i.e.   Gideon  the  Idol -breaker] :   Judg. 
"vi.  vii." 

17.  "Gideon  Pursuing:  Judg.  viii." 

18.  " Abimelech  the  Usurper:  Judg.  ix." 

19.  "Samson  Pursophorus  or  Hybristes  [i.e.  Samson  the  Fire- 
"  brand  -bringer   or  Violent],   or   Samson  Marrying ,   or   Ramath- 
"  Lechi:  Judg.  xv." 

20.  "  Dagonalia  :  Judg.  xvi." 

21.  "  Comazontes,  or  the  Benjaminites,  or  the  Rioters:  Judg.  xix. 
"  xx.  xxi." 

22.  "  Theristria :  A  Pastoral  out  of  Ruth." 

23.  "  Eliadce,  Hophni  and  Phinehas :  1  Sam.  i.  ii.  iii.  iv.     Begin- 
"  ning  with  the  first  overthrow  of  Israel  by  the  Philistines,  inter- 
"  laced  with  Samuel's  vision  concerning  Eli's  family." 

24.  "Jonathan  Rescued:  1  Sam.  i.  14." 

25.  "  Doea  Slandering :  1  Sarn.  xxii." 

26.  "  The  Sheep-shearers  in  Carmel :  A  Pastoral :   1  Sam.  xxv." 

27.  "  Saul  in  Gilboa :  1  Sam.  xxviii.  xxx." 

28.  "  David  Revolted :  1  Sam.,  from  the  xxvii.  chap,  to  the  xxxi." 

29.  "  David  Adulterous :  2  Sam.  xi.  xii." 

30.  "Tamar:  2  Sam.  xiii." 

31.  "Achitophel:  2  Sam.  xv.  xvi.  xvii.  xviii." 

32.  "Adoniah:  1  Kings  ii." 

33.  "Solomon  Gyncecocratumenos,  or  Idolomargus ;   or  Thysia- 
"  zusce  [i.e.  Solomon  Women-governed,  or  Idol-mad ;  or  the  Women- 
"  sacri/lcers],  1  Kings  xi." 

34.  "Rehoboam:    1   Kings  xii.,  where  is  disputed  of  a  politic 
"  Religion." 

35.  "  Abias  Thersceus :   1  Kings  xiv.      The  Queen,  after  much 
"  dispute,  as  the  last  refuge,  sent  to  the  prophet  Ahias  at  Shilo ; 
"  receives  the  message.     The  epitasis  in  that  she,  hearing  the  child 
"  shall  die  as  she  comes  home,  refuses  to  return,  thinking  thereby 
"  to  elude  the  oracle.     The  former  part  is  spent  in  bringing  the 
"  sick  prince  forth,  as  it  were  desirous  to  shift  his  chamber  and 
"  couch,  as  dying  men  use — his  father  telling  him  what  sacrifice  he 
"  had  sent  for  his  health  to  Bethel  and  Dan.     His  fearlessness  of 
"  death,  and  putting  his  father  in  mind  to  set  to  Ahiah.     The  Chorus 
"  of  the  Elders  of  Israel  bemoaning  his  virtues  bereft  them,  and  at 


1639-40.]       LITERARY   PROJECTS  :    JOTTINGS   OF   SUBJECTS.        1  1  1 

"  another    time    wondering    why   Jeroboam,    being    bad    himself, 
"  should  so  grieve  for  his  son  that  was  good,  iV. 

36.  "  Inibres,  or  the  Showers :  1  Kings  xviii.  xix." 

37.  " Naboth  trvKofavTov^vos  [i.e.  falsely-accused]:  1  Kings 
"x.\ 

38.  "  Ahab :    1    Kings  xxii.     Beginning  at  the  synod  of  false 
"  Prophets ;   ending   with   relation   of   Ahab's  death.     His  body 
"  brought ;   Zedekiah  slain   by   Ahab's   friends  for   his  seducing. 
"  (See  Lavater,  2  Chron.  xviii.) " 

39.  "  Elias  in  the  Mount :  2  Kings  i.  'Opu^d-rip  [the  Mountain- 
u  Ranger]  ;  or,  better,  Elias  Polemistes  [the  Warrior]." 

40.  "  Elisceus  Hydrochoos  [Elisha,  the  Water-pourer] :   2  Kings 
"  iii :  Hydrophantes  [Water-Prophet] :  Aquator" 

41.  "Elisceus  Adorodocetos  [the  Incorruptible]." 

42.  "  Elisceus  Menutes   [the   Informer],   sive   in  Dothaimis   [in 
"  Dothan] :  2  Kings  vi." 

43.  "  Samaria  Liberata  [Samaria  Delivered] :  2  Kings  vii." 

44.  " Achabcei  Cunoborwmani  [devoured  by  dogs]:  2  Kings  ix. 
"  The  scene  Jesrael.     Beginning  from  the  watchman's  discovery  of 
"  Jehu,  till  he  go  out.     In  the  meanwhile  message  of  things  passing 
"  brought  to  Jezebel,  <fcc.     Lastly,  the  70  heads  of  Ahab's  sons 
'*  brought  in,  and  message  brought  of  Ahaziah's  brethren  slain  on 
"  the  way.     Chap,  x." 

45.  "  Jehu  Belicola  [Jehu  worshipping  Baal] :  2  Kings  x." 

46.  "Athaliah:  2  Kings  xi." 

47.  "  Amaziah  Doryalotus  [Captive  of  the  spear] :  2  Kings  xiv. ; 
"  2  Chron.  xxv." 

48.  " Hezechias  7roAio/>Koi'/Aci>os:  Hezekiah  Besieged:  2  Kings 
"  xviii.  xix.     The  wicked  hypocrisy  of  Shebna,  spoken  of  in  the 
"  XL,  or  thereabout,  of  Isaiah,  and  the  commendation  of  Eliakim 
"  will  afford  a<£op/nas  Aoyov  [occasions  for  discourse],  together  with  a 
"  faction  that  sought  help  from  Egypt" 

49.  "Josiah  Aiafo/xeros  [Lamented]  :  2  Kings  xxiii." 

50.  "  Zfdekiah  vto-rtpifav  [Revolutionising] :  2  Kings ;  but  the 
"  story  is  larger  in  Jeremiah." 

51.  "  Salymun  Ilalosis  [the  Taking  of  Jerusalem] :  Which  may 
"  begin  from  a  message  brought  to  the  city  of  the  judgment  upon 
"  Zedekiah  and  his  children  in  Ribla ;  and  so  seconded  with  the 
"  burning  and  destruction  of  City  and  Temple  by  Nebuzaradan, 
"  lamented  by  Jeremiah." 

52.  "  Asa  or  ^Ethiopes :  2  Chron.  xiv. ;  with  the  deposing  of  his 
"  mother  and  burning  her  idol." 

53.  "  Dura :  The  Three  Children :  Dan.  iii." 

II.  FROM  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

1.  "  Baptistes.  The  Scene,  the  Court.  Beginning  from  the 
"  morning  of  Herod's  birthday.  Herod,  by  some  counsellor  (or  else 
"  the  Queen  may  plot,  under  pretence  of  begging  for  his  liberty, 


112  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  to  seek  to  draw  him  into  a  snare  by  his  freedom  of  speech), 
"  persuaded  on  his  birthday  to  release  John  Baptist,  purposes  it. 
"  Causes  him  to  be  sent  for  to  the  Court  from  prison.  The  Queen 
"  hears  of  it  ;  takes  occasion  to  pass  where  he  is  on  purpose,  under 
"  pretence  of  reconciling  to  him,  or  seeking  to  draw  a  kind  retrac- 
"  tion  from  him  of  the  censure  on  the  marriage — to  which  end  she 
"  sends  a  courtier  before,  to  sound  whether  he  might  be  persuaded 
"  to  mitigate  his  sentence ;  which  not  finding,  she  herself  craftily 
"  assays,  and  on  his  constancy  founds  an  accusation  to  Herod  of  a 
"  contumacious  affront  on  such  a  day  before  many  peers.  Prepares 
"  the  King  to  some  passion,  and,  at  last,  by  her  daughter's  dancing, 
"  effects  it.  There  may  prologize  the  spirit  of  Philip,  Herod's 
"  brother.  It  may  also  be  thought  that  Herod  had  well  bedewed 
"  himself  with  wine,  which  made  him  grant  the  easier  to  his  wife's 
"  daughter.  Some  of  his  [John's]  disciples  also,  as  to  congratulate 
"  his  liberty,  may  be  brought  in ;  with  whom  [John],  after  certain 
"  command  of  his  death,  many  compassionating  words  of  his  dis- 
"  ciples,  bewailing  his  youth  cut  off  in  his  glorious  course — he 
"  telling  them  his  work  is  done,  and  asking  them  to  follow  Christ, 
"  his  master." 

2.  "  Christ  Born" 

3.  "  Herod  Massacring,  or  Rachel  Weeping :  Matth.  ii." 

4.  *"  Christus  Patiens.      The  scene  in  the  Garden,   beginning 
"  from  the  coming  thither  till  Judas  betrays,  and  the  officers  lead 
"  him  away.     The  rest  by  Message  and  Chorus.     His  agony  may 
"  receive  noble  expressions." 

5.  "  Christ  Bound." 

6.  "  Christ  Crucified" 

7.  "  Christ  Risen" 

8.  "Lazarus:  John  xi." 


II.  SUBJECTS  FKOM  BRITISH  HISTORY. 
I.  "  BRITISH  TRAGEDIES."  J 

"  1.  Venutius,  husband  to  Cartismandua."  A.D.  51. — "  The  Cloister 
"  King  Constans  set  up  by  Vortiger."  A.D.  408.2 

"  2.    Vortimer  poisoned  by  Rb'ena."     A.D.  475. 

"3.  Vortiger  immured. —  Vortiger,  marrying  Rb'ena"  (see  Speed), 
"  reproved  by  Vodin,  Archbishop  of  London  (Speed.) — The  Massacre 
"  of  the  Britons  by  Hengist  in  their  cups  at  Salisbury  Plain 
"  (Malmesbury)."  A.D.  450-476. 

1  The  numbering  in    this  series    is  together ;  though,  from  the  large  in- 
Milton's  own.     I  have  added  the  dates  terval    of    time   between   the    two,    I 
of    the    transactions    that    form    the  suspect  that  the  first  subject  was  an 
subjects.  afterthought,  intended  as  separate,  but 

2  Not  to  disturb  the  numbering,   I  entered  beside  the  other, 
have  kept  the  two  subjects  of  No.  1 


1639-40.]       LITERARY  PROJECTS:    JOTTINGS  OF  SUBJECTS.        113 

"4.  Sigher,  of  the  East  Saxons,  revolted  from  the  faith,  and 
"  reclaimed  by  Jarumang."  A.D.  665. 

u  5.  Ethelbert,  of  the  East  Angle*,  slain  by  0/a  the  Mercian  Kin,,. 
"See  Holinshed  1.  vi.  c.  5;  Speed,  in  the  Life  of  Offa  aiid 
"  Ethelbert."  A.D.  792. 

*'  6.  Sebert  slain  by  Penda,  after  he  had  left  his  kingdom.  See 
"Holinshed  p.  116."  A.D.  644. 

"  7.    Wulfer  slaying  his  two  sons  for  being  Christians."     A.D.  659. 

"8.  Osbert  of  Northumberland  slain  for  rainshing  the  wife  of 
"  Bernbocard,  and  the  Danes  brought  in.  See  Stow,  Holinshed 
"  1.  vi.  c.  12,  and  especially  Speed  1.  viii.  c.  2."  A.D.  867. 

"  9.  Edmond,  last  King  of  the  East  Angles,  martyred  by  Hinguar 
"  the  Dane.  See  Speed  1.  viii.  c.  2."  A.D.  870. 

"  10.  Sigebert,  tyrant  of  the  West  Saxons,  slain  by  a  swine-herd" 
A.D.  755. 

"11.  Edmund,  brother  of  Athelstan,  slain  by  a  thief  at  his  own 
"  table  (Malmesb.)."  A.D.  948. 

"  1 2.  Edwin,  son  to  Edward  the  younger,  for  lust  deprived  of  his 
"  kingdom.  Or  rather  by  a  faction  of  monks,  whom  he  hated, 
"  together  [with]  the  impostor  Dunstan."  A.D.  956. 

"  1 3.  Edward,  son  of  Edgar,  murdered  by  his  stepmother ;  to 
"  which  may  be  inserted  the  tragedy  stirred  up  betwixt  the  monks 
"  and  priests  about  marriage."  A.D.  978. 

"14.  Etheldred,  son  of  Edgar,  a  slothful  King:  the  ruin  of  his 
"  land  by  the  Danes."  A.D.  979-1016. 

"15.  Ceaulin,  King  of  West  Saxons,  for  tyranny  dejwsed,  and 
"  banished,  and  dying."  A.D.  594. 

"  1 6.  The  slaughter  of  the  monks  of  Bangor  by  Edelfride,  stirred 
"  up,  as  is  said,  by  Ethelbert,  and  he  by  Austin  the  monk,  because 
"  the  Britons  would  not  receive  the  rites  of  the  Roman  Church. 
"  See  Beda,  Geoffrey  Monmouth,  and  Holinshed  p.  104.  Which 
"  must  begin  with  the  convocation  of  British  clergy  by  Austin,  to 
"  determine  superfluous  points  which  by  them  were  refused."  A.D. 
602-607. 

"  1 7.  Edwin,  by  vision,  promised  the  kingdom  of  Northumberland 
"  on  promise  of  his  conversion,  and  therein  established  by  Rodoald, 
"  King  of  East  Angles"  A.D.  617. 

"18.   Oswin,  King  of  Deira,  slain  by  O&ioy,  his  friend,  King  of 
nicid,  through   instigation   of  flatterers.     See    Holinshed    p. 
"115."     A.D.  651. 

"19.  Xigibert  of  the  East  Angles  [East  Saxons],  keeping  company 
"  with  a  person  excommunicated,  slain  by  the  same  man  in  his  home; 
"  according  as  the  Bishop  Cedda  had  foretold."  A.D.  655. 

"  20.  Egfride,  King  of  the  Northumbers,  slain  in  battle  against 
'  f/c  Picts ;  having  before  wasted  Ireland,  and  made  war  for  no 
"  reason  on  men  that  ever  loved  the  English  "  [may  we  not  descry 
here  an  allusion  to  another  English  King  engaged  in  a  war  against 
the  same  Scottish  people  at  the  very  time  when  Milton  was 
VOL.  II  I 


114  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

writing  this  jotting?];  "forewarned  also  by  Cuthbert  not  to  fight 
"  with  the  Picts."     A.D.  684. 

"21.  Kinewulf,  King  of  the  West  Saxons,  slain  by  Kineard,  in  the 
"  house  of  one  of  his  concubines"  A.D.  784. 

"  22.  Gunthildis,  the  Danish  lady,  with  her  husband  Palingus, 
"  and  her  son,  slain  by  appointment  of  the  traitor  Edrick  in  King 
"  Ethelred's  days.  Holinshed  1.  vii.  c.  5 ;  together  with  the 
"  massacre  of  the  Danes  at  Oxford.  Speed."  A.D.  1002. 

"  23.  Brightrick,  of  West  Saxons,  poisoned  by  his  wife  Ethelburga, 
"  0/a's  daughter ;  who  dies  miserably  also  in  beggary,  after  adul- 
"  tery  in  a  nunnery.  Speed  in  Brithric."  A.D.  802. 

"24.  Alfred,  in  disguise  of  a  minstrel,  discovers  the  Danes'  negli- 
"  gence  ;  sets  on  with  a  mighty  slaughter.  About  the  same  time  the 
"  Devonshire  men  rout  Hubba  and  slay  him. — A  Heroical  Poem 
"  may  be  founded  somewhere  in  Alfred's  reign,  especially  at  his 
"  issuing  out  of  Edelingsey  on  the  Danes ;  whose  actions  are  well 
"  like  those  of  Ulysses."  A.D.  878. 

"25.  Athelstan  exposing  his  brother  Edwin  to  the  sea,  and  repent- 
"  ing."  A.D.  933. 

"26.  Edgar  slaying  Ethelwold  for  false  play  in  wooing.  Wherein 
"  may  be  set  out  his  pride  [and]  lust,  which  he  thought  to  cloak 
"  by  favouring  monks  and  building  monasteries  ;  also  the  disposition 
"  of  woman,  in  Elfrida  toward  her  husband."  A.D.  970. 

"27.  Swane  besieging  London  and  Ethelred  repulsed  by  the 
"  Londoners."  A.D.  1013. 

"  28.  Harold  slain  in  battle  by  William  the  Norman.  The  first 
"  scene  may  begin  with  the  ghost  of  Alfred,  the  second  son  of 
"  Ethelred,  slain  in  cruel  manner  by  Godwin,  Harold's  father, 
"  his  mother  and  brother  dissuading  him."  A.D.  1066. 

"29.  Edmund  Ironside  defeating  the  Danes  at  Brentford;  with 
"  his  combat  with  Canute."  A.D.  1016. 

"30.  Edmund  Ironside  murdered  by  Edrick  the  traitor  and 
"  revenged  by  Canute."  A.D.  1017. 

"31.  Gunilda,  daughter  to  King  Canute  and  Emma,  wife  to 
"  Henry,  the  third  Emperor,  accused  of  unchastity,  is  defended  by  her 
"  English  page  in  combat  against  a  giant-like  adversary,  who  by 
"  him,  at  two  blows,  is  slain,  &c.  Speed,  in  the  Life  of  Canute." 
About  1043. 

"32.  Hardiknute  dying  in  his  cups:  an  example  to  riot." 
A.D.  1041. 

"33.  Edward  Confessor's  divorcing  and  imprisoning  his  noble 
"  wife,  Editha,  Godwin's  daughter.  Wherein  is  showed  his  over- 
"  affection  to  strangers,  the  cause  of  Godwin's  insurrection 
"  (wherein  Godwin's  forbearance  of  battle  praised  and  the  English 
"  moderation  on  both  sides  magnified).  His  slackness  to  redress 
"  the  corrupt  clergy,  and  superstitious  pretence  of  chastity." 


1639-40.]       LITERARY   PROJECTS:    JOTTINGS  OF  SUBJECTS.        115 


II.    'SCOTCH  STORIES,  OB  RATHER  BRITISH  OF  THE  NORTH  PARTS." 

1.  "  Athirco    slain    by   Natholochus,    whose    daughters    he    had 
"  ravished ;   and  this  Natholochus,  usurping  thereon  the  kingdom, 
"  seeks  to  slay  the  kindred  of  Athirco,  who  scape  him  and  conspire 
"  against  him.     He  sends  to  a  witch  to  know  the  event.     The 
"  witch  tells   the  messenger   that  he  is  the  man  shall  slay  Na- 
"  tholochus.     He  detests  it ;   but,  in  his  journey  home,  changes 
"  his  mind,  and  performs  it,  «fec.  (Scotch  Chron.  Englished,  pp. 
"  68-69)."  *     Athirco,  the  29th  in  the  legendary  list  of  Scottish 
Kings,  has  his  reign  dated  A.D.  231-242. 

2.  "  Duf  and  Donwald:   A   strange   story  of   witchcraft  and 
"  murder  discovered   and  revenged  (Scotch  Story  p.    149,  «kc.)." 
Duff  or  Duffus  is  the  78th  of  the  Scottish  Kings,  A.D.  961-966. 

3.  "Hay  the  Ploughman.     Who,  with  his  two  sons  that  were 
**  at  plough,  running  to  the  battle  that  was  between  the  Scots  ami 
"  Danes  in  the  next  field,  stayed  the  flight  of  his  countrymen,  re- 
"  newed   the  battle,  and   caused  the  victory,   <fcc.  (Scotch  Story 
"  p.  155)."    The  battle  in  which  Hay  the  Ploughman  thus  distin- 
guished himself  was  fought  A.D.  990,  in  that  parish  of  Luncarty 
in  Perthshire  of  which  Young,    Milton's   first   preceptor,    was  a 
native. 

1 .  "  Kenneth.  Who,  having  privily  poisoned  Malcolm  Duff,  that 
"  his  own  son  might  succeed,  is  slain  by  Fenella  (Scotch  Hist, 
pp.  157,  158,  <fec.)."  A.D.  994. 

5.  "  Macbeth.  Beginning  at  the  arrival  of  Malcolm  at  Macduff. 
"  The  matter  of  Duncan  may  be  expressed  by  the  appearing  of  his 
"  ghost."  Milton  seems  to  have  thought  this  subject  capable  of 
another  treatment  than  Shakespeare's. 

The  very  numerousness  of  the  subjects  thus  collected 
proves  that  most  of  them  were  jotted  down  on  chance  and 
never  thought  of  after  the  moment.  At  the  utmost,  Milton 
could  hope  that  at  his  leisure,  after  having  treated  whichever 
he  might  select  in  chief,  he  might  be  able  to  go  back,  for 
minor  works,  on  one  or  two  of  the  others.  It  is  interesting, 
however,  to  notice  the  subjects  that  seemed,  while  he  was 
in  the  course  of  collecting  them,  to  attract  him  most. 
Among  the  Scriptural  subjects  they  were  undoubtedly 

1  The  Book  referred  to  as  the  autho-  of   the    Scotorum    I  lift  or  ia:  of   Hector 

rity  for  thin  and  the  other  Scottish  Boothiiw,     printed     with    H..linshed'8 

us    was,    doubtless,    the    English  Chronicle*, 
adaptation  of   Bollonden's  translation 


116  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

Paradise  Lost,  Abraham  from  Morea,  Sodom  Burning,  Modb- 
itides,  Abijah,  Baptistes,  and  Christus  Patiens  ;  while  in  his 
survey  of  British  History  we  see  him  hovering  most  fondly, 
as  was  natural,  over  the  critical  points  or  epochs,  and  accord- 
ingly weighing  most  carefully  the  claims  of  such  subjects-  as 
Vortiger  and  the  Saxons,  Alfred  and  the  Danes,  Harold  and 
the  Normans.  In  the  peculiar  entry  under  the  jotting  of 
Alfred  as  a  subject  there  is  proof  that,  though  the  dramatic 
form  was  chiefly  in  favour  with  him  for  the  time,  he  had  not 
entirely  committed  himself  to  that  form  against  the  epic ; 
and  the  occurrence  of  one  or  two  pastoral  subjects  in  the 
Biblical  list  shows  that,  within  the  dramatic  form,  he  had 
thoughts  of  quieter  varieties  than  pure  tragedy.  It  is  curious 
also  to  note  the  proof  of  the  tenacity  of  Milton's  mind  which 
is  furnished  by  the  comparison  of  this  list  of  his  projects  in 
his  early  manhood  with  the  works  which  he  did  actually 
accomplish  ere  he  died.  "  Paradise  Lost "  is  here  under  its 
very  name  ;  "  Paradise  Regained  "  is  involved  in  some  of  the 
New  Testament  subjects ;  "  Samson  Agonistes "  is  here  in 
the  form  of  two  proposed  subjects  from  Samson's  life ;  and, 
though  Milton  never  attempted  an  epic  or  a  drama  from 
British  History  before  the  Conquest,  did  he  not  publish  at 
length  his  prose  "  History  of  Britain  "  ?  Undoubtedly,  how- 
ever, the  most  startling  inference  from  the  list,  its  chief 
biographical  revelation,  is  the  fact,  hitherto  overlooked  or  too 
little  adverted  to,  that  as  early  as  1 640  Milton's  thoughts  were 
full  of  the  subject  of  "  Paradise  Lost."  It  was  with  a  view 
to  a  drama,  indeed,  that  he  then  entertained  the  subject ;  but 
the  pre-eminence  it  takes  in  the  list,  on  this  understanding, 
over  all  the  other  subjects,  is  very  remarkable.  It  stands 
first  of  all ;  there  are  three  drafts  of  it  at  once,  and  a  fourth 
draft  some  time  afterwards,  set  down  with  a  direction  to 
compare  it  with  the  last  of  the  former  three  ;  and  altogether 
this  single  subject  occupies  nearly  a  page  and  a  half  of  the 
entire  seven  pages  of  Jottings.  There  are  few  facts  in  literary 
history  more  striking  than  this  predetermination  of  Milton 
in  his  early  manhood  to  the  subject  of  the  greatest  work  of 
his  later  life. 


1639-40.]       LITERARY  PROJECTS:    JOTTINGS  OF  SUBJECTS.        117 

But,  though  "  Paradise  Lost,"  as  the  first  subject  in  the 
list,  may  have  been  jotted  down  as  early  as  1639-40,  may  it 
not  have  been  a  year  or  two  before  the  list  of  jottings  was 
completed  ?  It  seems  probable  to  me  that  the  sheets  con- 
taining the  jottings  lay  beside  Milton  throughout  the  whole 
of  1640,  and  even  into  1641  and  1642,  and  were  added  to 
from  time  to  tima  Some  of  the  schemes  of  subjects,  and 
some  of  the  little  additions  or  afterthoughts  that  were 
inserted  in  others  with  the  pen,  bear  evidence  in  their 
phraseology  that  the  passing  events  of  those  years  had  helped 
to  suggest  them.  On  the  whole,  however,  I  conclude  that 
1640  saw  most  of  the  jottings  made,  and  certainly  that  they 
did  not  remain  in  hand  long  after  the  middle  of  1641.  The 
following  passage  from  TJie  Reason  of  Church  Government  is 
to  the  point  That  pamphlet,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  was 
written  towards  the  end  of  1641,  or  two  years  after  our 
present  date  ;  and  the  passage  comes  immediately  after  those 
already  quoted  from  it,  and  winds  up  Milton's  account  there 
given  of  the  literary  plans  and  dreams  which  had  occupied 
him  from  the  time  of  his  return  from  abroad  on  to  the 
moment  when  the  political  agitations  of  the  country  had 
interrupted  those  plans  and  dreams  and  compelled  him  to 
throw  aside  poetry  for  sterner  work.  "  Time  serves  not 
"  now,"  he  says,  "  and  perhaps  I  might  seem  too  profuse,  to 
"  give  any  certain  account  of  what  the  mind  at  home,  in 
"  the  spacious  circuits  of  her  musing,  hath  liberty  to  propose 
"  to  herself,  though  of  highest  hope  and  hardest  attempting : 
"  whether  that  Epic  form  whereof  the  two  poems  of 
"  Homer,  and  those  other  two  of  Virgil  and  Tasso,  are  a 
"  diffuse,  and  the  Book  of  Job,  a  brief  model ;  or  whether 
"  the  rules  of  Aristotle  herein  are  strictly  to  be  kept,  or 
"  nature  to  be  followed,  which  in  them  that  know  art  and  use 
"  judgment  is  no  transgression,  but  an  enriching  of  art ;  and 
"  lastly,  what  King  or  Knight  before  the  Conquest  might  be 
"  chosen,  in  whom  to  lay  the  pattern  of  a  Christian  hero. 
And,  as  Tasso  gave  to  a  prince  of  Italy  his  choice  whether 
"  he  would  command  him  to  write  of  Godfrey's  expedition 
"  against  tin-  Inliilrls,  or  Belisarius  against  the  Goths,  or 


118  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  Charlemain  against  the  Lombards,  if  to  the  instinct  of 
"  nature  and  the  emboldening  of  art  aught  may  be  trusted, 
"  and  that  there  be  nothing  adverse  in  our  climate  or  the  fate 
"  of  this  age,  it  haply  would  be  no  rashness,  from  an  equal 
"  diligence  and  inclination,  to  present  the  like  offer  in  our 
"  own  ancient  stories.  Or  whether  those  Dramatic  consti- 
"  tutions  wherein  Sophocles  and  Euripides  reign  shall  be 
"  found  more  doctrinal  and  exemplary  to  a  nation  :  the  Scrip- 
"  ture  also  affords  us  a  divine  Pastoral  Drama  in  the  Song  of 
"  Solomon,  consisting  of  two  persons  and  a  double  chorus,  as 
"  Origen  rightly  judges  ;  and  the  Apocalypse  of  Saint  John  is 
"  the  majestic  image  of  a  high  and  stately  Tragedy,  shutting 
"  up  and  intermingling  her  solemn  scenes  and  acts  with  a 
"  sevenfold  chorus  of  hallelujahs  and  harping  symphonies 
"  (and  this  my  opinion  the  grave  authority  of  Parseus,1  com- 
"  menting  that  Book,  is  sufficient  to  confirm).  Or  if  occa- 
"  sion  shall  lead  to  imitate  those  magnific  Odes  and  Hymns 
"  wherein  Pindarus  and  Callimachus  are  in  most  things 
"  worthy,  some  others  in  their  frame  judicious,  in  their 
"  matter  most  and  end  faulty ;  but  those  frequent  Songs 
"  throughout  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  beyond  all  these,  not 
"  in  their  divine  argument  alone,  but  in  the  very  critical  art 
"  of  composition,  may  be  easily  made  appear  over  all  the 
"  kinds  of  Lyric  Poesy  to  be  incomparable.  These  abilities, 
"  wheresoever  they  may  be  found,  are  the  inspired  gift  of 
"  God,  rarely  bestowed,  but  yet  to  some  (though  most  abuse) 
"  in  every  nation,  and  are  of  power,  beside  the  office  of 
"  a  pulpit,  to  inbreed  and  cherish  in  a  great  people  the  seeds 
"  of  virtue  and  public  civility,  to  allay  the  perturbations  of 
"  the  mind,  and  to  set  the  affections  in  right  tune  to  cele- 
"  brate  in  glorious  and  lofty  hymns  the  throne  and  equi- 
"  page  of  God's  Almightiness,  and  what  He  works,  and 
"  what  He  suffers  to  be  wrought  with  high  providence  in  His 
"  Church ;  to  sing  the  victorious  agonies  of  Martyrs  and 
"  Saints,  the  deeds  and  triumphs  of  just  and  pious  nations 
"  doing  valiantly  through  faith  against  the  enemies  of  Christ ; 

1  David  Parseus,  or  Pare.  German  Protestant  theologian  and  commentator, 
1548-1622. 


1639-40.]  LITERARY  PROJECTS.  119 

"  to  deplore  the  general  relapses  of  kingdoms  and  states  from 
"justice  and  God's  true  worship.  Lastly,  whatsoever  in 
"  religion  is  holy  and  sublime,  in  virtue  amiable  or  grave, 
"  whatsoever  hath  passion  or  admiration  in  all  the  changes 
"  of  that  which  is  called  fortune  from  without,  or  the  wily 
"  subtleties  and  refluxes  of  man's  thoughts  from  within, — all 
"  these  things  with  a  solid  and  treatable  smoothness  to  paint 
"  out  and  describe ;  teaching  over  the  whole  book  of  sanctity 
"  and  virtue,  through  all  the  instances  of  example,  with  such 
"  delight,  to  those  especially  of  soft  and  delicious  temper 
"  who  will  not  so  much  as  look  upon  Truth  herself  unless 
"  they  see  her  elegantly  drest,  that,  whereas  the  paths  of 
"  honestyand  good  life  appear  now  rugged  and  difficult,  though 
"  they  be  indeed  easy  and  pleasant,  they  would  then  appear 
"  to  all  men  both  easy  and  pleasant  though  they  were  rugged 
"  and  difficult  indeed.  And  what  a  benefit  this  would  be  to 
"  our  youth  and  gentry  may  be  soon  guessed  by  what  we 
"  know  of  the  corruption  and  bane  which  they  suck  in  daily 
"  from  the  writings  and  interludes  of  libidinous  and  ignorant 
"  poetasters,  who,  having  scarce  ever  heard  of  that  which  is 
"  the  main  consistence  of  a  true  poem — the  choice  of  such 
"  persons  as  they  ought  to  introduce,  and  what  is  moral  and 
"  decent  to  each  one — do  for  the  most  part  lap  up  vicious 
"  principles  in  sweet  pills,  to  be  swallowed  down,  and  make 
"  the  taste  of  virtuous  documents  harsh  and  sour." 

Is  not  this  a  virtual,  nay  an  all  but  literal,  description  by 
Milton  of  those  seven  pages  of  his  private  MS.  jottings  which 
have  been  detaining  us,  and  of  his  poetic  meditations  among 
them  till  the  call  to  sterner  work  compelled  him  to  lay 
them  aside  ? 

For  Milton's  plans  of  great  poems  or  works  of  pure  litera- 
ture of  any  kind  were  not  long  to  last.  Even  while  he  was 
writing  those  jottings  and  indulging  in  those  dreams  England 
was  drifting  on  through  a  second  Bellum  Episcopate,  or  War 
with  the  Scots  concerning  Bishops,  the  consequences  of 
which  were  not  to  stop  within  Scotland,  but  were  to  involve 
Kn-jliind  herself  from  end  to  end  Not  the  less  is  it  pleasant 
to  think  of  Milton,  as  this  chapter  has  presented  him  to  us, 


120  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

during  his  brief  breathing-time  of  peace  and  poetic  scheming 
before  the  great  interruption  came.  Do  we  not  see  him  ? 
There,  through  the  winter  of  1639-40,  he  sits  among  his 
books  and  papers,  in  his  lodging  in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard, 
his  two  boy-nephews  occasionally  with  him,  or  more  often 
in  an  adjoining  room,  the  bustle  of  Fleet  Street  and  Ludgate 
Hill  well  shut  out,  or  only  at  nights  the  not  unpleasing 
melancholy  of  the  wintry  London  gusts  mingling  with  the 
quiet  and  warmth  within.  The  very  thoughts  that  then 
made  up  Milton's  musings  are  known  to  us,  and  we  can  see 
the  books  that  were  chiefly  on  his  table.  His  thoughts  were 
of  the  Italian  scenes  and  friends  so  recently  left  and  yet 
bright  in  his  memory,  of  the  sad  death  of  Diodati  and  of  the 
poorer  English  world  remaining  for  himself  now  that  Diodati 
was  gone ;  yet  also  of  his  own  duties  in  that  world,  foreseen 
from  youth,  but  now  beginning  to  press  through  maturity  of 
years  and  experience.  He  was  to  teach  the  English  nation 
a  new  ideal  of  Literature,  and  for  that  purpose  he  must  leave 
his  minor  Poems  behind  for  what  they  were  worth,  and  set 
about  works  of  higher  and  larger  structure  that  should  task 
his  utmost  powers.  For  such  works  there  must  be  preparation. 
There  must  be  a  due  apparatus  of  material,  and  of  selection 
and  extract  from  amid  that  material.  Well,  there  it  is  !  All 
round  his  room  are  books ;  but  there  are  a  few  that  are 
habitually  in  use.  These  are  the  Bible  (in  English  and  in 
the  originals),  some  Latin  commentaries  on  the  Bible  of  re- 
cognised merit,  Holinshed's  Chronicles  of  England  and  Scot- 
land, Speed's  Chronicle,  Bede's  Historia  Ecclesiastica  Gentis 
Anglorum,  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  Historia  Britonum, 
William  of  Malmesbury's  De  G-estis  Regum,  and  one  or  two 
others.  0  ver  these  he  pores  day  after  day,  reading,  ruminating, 
and  making  notes.  The  Seven  Pages  of  Jottings  which  now 
form  pp.  35 — 41  of  the  volume  of  Milton  MSS.  at  Cam- 
bridge were  the  chief  immediate  result  of  those  readings. 
Those  pages  once  lay  under  Milton's  fingers.  They  were 
begun,  I  calculate,  in  the  winter  of  1639—40,  but  may 
have  been  continued  through  1640  and  perhaps  into  1641 
or  even  1642.  And  so,  for  the  present,  we  leave  Milton,  books 


1639-40.] 


1.1 11  KARY   PROJECTS. 


121 


before  him,  pen  in  hand,  and  the  Jottings,  which  the  reader 
has  just  seen  in  their  complete  state,  not  yet  quite  in  that 
state,  but  only  in  progress.1 


1  A  very  vigilant  reader  may  require 
more  exact  proof  than  has  been  fur- 
nished in  the  text  that  the  Seven  PC 
of  Jottings  of  Subjects  in  the  Caml 
MS.  volume  do  belong  to  the  yean  1( 
•!'_'.  <>r  the  year  or  two  immediately  fol- 
lowing Milton's  return  from  his  Italian 
journey.  Here,  therefore,  are  the  heads 
of  the  proof:— (1)  That  the  Jottings 
cannot  have  been  made  before  the  Ita- 
lian journey  is  proved,  not  only  by  the 
fact  that  the  scheme  of  a  future  Poem 
with  which  Milton  entertained  himself 
during  that  journey,  and  for  a  little 
while  after  his  return  from  it,  was  OB* 
quite  apart  from  the  Jottings,  but  also 
by  the  evidence  of  the  handwriting. 
In  specimens  of  Milton's  autograph 
before  the  Italian  journey,  including 
the  draft  of  his  Lycidas,  written  in 
Nov.  1637,  the  small  letter  .  is,  all  but 
invariably,  shaped  in  the  Greek  form 
(i) ;  but  after  his  return  from  Italy, 
and  probably  in  consequence  of  his  stay 
there,  his  all  but  uniform  habit  was  to 
shape  it  much  as  wo  do  now  (e).  This 
furnishes  a  useful  test  of  date  to  bo 
applied  to  Milton's  handwriting  in 
many  cases ;  and,  as  applied  to  the 
Jottings,  it  is  conclusive  that  they  can- 
not have  been  made  earlier  than  1639. 
The  Greek  form  of  the  e  is  superseded 
in  them  by  our  present  form.  (2)  Mil- 
ton was  totally  blind  in  1652,  and  for 
several  years  before  that  he  had  prac- 
tically ceased  to  use  his  own  hand  in 
any  continuous  writing.  The  latest 
piece  in  his  own  handwriting  in  the 
Cambridge  volume  is  a  Sonnet  of  date 
1648 ;  the  next  latest  is  a  Sonnet  of 
date  1646 ;  and  the  pieces  in  his  hand 
of  later  date  than  1642  are  very  few. 
As  the  Jottings  are  an  extensive  and 
rather  elaborate  mass  of  handwriting, 
with  corrections,  interlineations,  and 
close-packing,  which  must  have  required 
the  full  use  of  eyesight,  it  seems  fair, 
on  that  ground  alone,  to  make  the 
year  1648  the  utmost  limit  of  //,,,, 
possibility.  (3)  A  minute  examination 


of  the  C'aiul>ri<l^e  volume,  in  respect  of 
paper,  water-mark,  and  other  such 
mechanical  particulars,  shows  a  certain 
continuity  in  the  eight  sheets  forming 
its  middle  and  larger  portion.  The 
entire  volume  consists  of  54  pages,  and 
those  middle  eight  sheets  of  it  are  the 
32  pages  from  p.  11  to  p.  42  inclusively. 
They  contain  the  Draft  of  f  •„,„,,.«.  the 
Draft  of  Lycidas,  and  the  JOTTINGS, 
and  in  such  a  manner  that  these  form 
a  little  mass  of  autograph  by  them- 
selves, .separated  by  blank  pages  from 
what  precedes  in  the  volume  and  from 
what  follows.  The  suggestion  to  the 
eye  is  that  the  JOTTINGS  either  were 
written  in  an  unoccupied  j>art  of  a 
thin  paper-book  which  already  con- 
tained the  Drafts  of  Cum  us  and  Lycidas, 
or  were  written  on  sheets  of  the  same 
l>aper  still  in  possession.  Either  way, 
the  JOTTINGS  are  brought  pretty  close 
to  Lycidas.  (4)  It  would  be  difficult 
to  find  a  time  in  Milton's  life  after  1641 
when  he  could  have  been  at  leisure,  or 
in  the  mood,  for  such  Jottings,  and 
the  literary  balancings  and  hesitations 
which  they  indicate.  (5)  From  a  state- 
ment in  Phillips's  Life  of  Milton,  illus- 
trated by  Aubrey's  notes,  it  distinctly 
appears  that  Phillips  had  heard  some 
lines  of  Paradise  Lost  road  to  him  by 
his  uncle  as  early  as  about  1642.  This 
proves  that  Milton  had  by  that  time 
done  more  with  the  first  great  subject 
among  the  Jottings  than  merely  register 
it.  (6)  The  passage  quoted  in  the  text 
from  The  Reason  of  Church  Government, 
and  other  passages  in  the  same  treatise, 
would  alone  be  conclusive.  That  trea- 
tise was  written  at  the  end  of  1641  ; 
and  the  passages  in  question  exhibit 
Milton  as  if  actually  looking  at  the 
Jottings  lying  on  his  table,  taking 
the  public  into  his  confidence  respect- 
ing them,  and  explaining  with  what 
regret  ho  had  in  that  year  torn  himself 
away  from  such  literary  contempla- 
tions and  labours  in  order  to  embark 
in  politics. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

EPISCOPAL      ALARMS      IN      ENGLAND BISHOP     HALL'S     EPISCOPACY     BY 

DIVINE  RIGHT THE   SHORT    PARLIAMENT THE    SECOND    "BISHOPS3 


THE  Scots  had  duly  held  their  second  General  Assembly,  as 
authorized  by  the  Pacification  of  Birks.  It  met  at  Edin- 
burgh, with  David  Dickson  as  Moderator,  and  sat  from  the 
12th  to  the  30th  of  August  1639.  Ostensibly  it  discussed 
matters  de  novo ;  but  in  reality  it  reasserted  and  confirmed  all 
the  decisions  of  the  Glasgow  Assembly  of  1 6  3  8.  The  Parlia- 
ment promised  at  the  Pacification  had  also  met,  with  no 
Prelates  in  it,  but  only  the  nobles  and  representatives  of 
the  lairds  and  of  the  burghs.  Thwarted,  however,  at  every 
step  by  the  King's  Commissioner,  Traquair,  this  Parliament 
(Aug.  31 — Nov.  14)  had  not  been  able  to  do  much.  Its  most 
important  act  was  the  nomination  of  a  committee  of  twenty- 
two  of  its  number  to  watch  proceedings  till  June  2,  1640, 
the  day  to  which  it  stood  prorogued.  Still,  in  the  main, 
Scotland  was  at  ease.  She  had  swept  away  her  Bishops, 
and  was  able  to  rejoice  once  more  in  an  apparatus  of  simple 
Presbyterianism. 

EPISCOPAL  ALARMS   IN   ENGLAND  :    BISHOP   HALL'S   EPISCOPACY 
BY   DIVINE   RIGHT. 

In  England  the  prevalent  feeling  continued  to  be  that  of 
sympathy  with  the  Scots.  To  this  feeling,  however,  there 
were  some  exceptions.  More  particularly  among  the  English 


1639-40.]  EPISCOPAL  ALARMS  IN  ENGLAND.  123 

clergy,  and  among  those  laymen  who  had  an  affection  for  the 
existing  forms  and  constitution  of  the  Church  of  England, 
there  was  a  sense  of  danger  and  provocation.  There  was 
both  danger  and  provocation  in  the  proximity  of  a  Kirk  so 
zealous  in  its  assertion  of  anti-Episcopal  principles  as  that 
of  the  Scots,  and  viewed  with  such  ominous  interest  by  a 
large  body  of  the  English  people.  It  might  not  be  great 
matter  of  regret,  so  far  as  the  Scots  were  themselves  con- 
cerned, that  they  had  modelled  their  jagged  little  portion 
of  the  island  to  their  own  fashion,  and  rejected  the  benefits 
of  a  Liturgy  and  the  order  of  Bishops.  But  had  not  the 
success  of  the  Scots  been  a  blow  to  the  cause  of  Episcopacy 
generally  ?  Was  not  the  Church  of  England  challenged  and 
menaced,  and  was  not  some  demonstration  necessary  to  set 
that  Church  right  both  with  her  own  members  and  with  the 
world  at  large  ?  If  the  Scots  must  be  let  go,  should  they 
not  be  let  go  execrated  and  excommunicated,  rather  than 
with  the  honours  of  victory  ? 

These  feelings  found  a  spokesman  in  that  Dr.  Joseph  Hall, 
bishop  of  Exeter,  of  whom  we  have  already  had  glimpses  in 
this  History.  Known  in  his  youth  as  "  the  English  Persius," 
on  account  of  his  coarsish  but  masculine  metrical  satires, 
and  afterwards  styled  "  the  English  Seneca,"  on  account  of 
his  more  numerous  prose-writings,  this  Prelate  had  hitherto 
been  in  greater  favour  with  the  Puritans  than  most  of  his 
brethren.  He  was  regarded  as  a  Prelate  of  the  old  Calvin- 
istic,  rather  than  of  the  Laudian,  school.  He  had  even  been 
in  conflict  with  Laud  while  Laud  was  rising  into  the  ascend- 
ency. Of  late,  however,  he  had  been  approximating  to 
Laud  :  I  should  even  say  that  he  had  been  toadying  Laud  in 
secret.  I  have  seen  disagreeable  private  letters  of  informa- 
tion written  by  him  to  Laud  respecting  nests  of  Sectaries 
in  London  whom  it  would  be  well  to  extirpate;  and  my 
distinct  impression  is  that,  in  his  conduct  generally,  and 
even  in  his  writings,  when  carefully  examined,  there  will 
be  found  a  meaner  element  than  our  literary  dilettanti 
and  antiquaries  have  been  able  to  discern  in  so  celebrated 
a  bishop.  Now,  at  all  events,  in  his  sixty-sixth  year,  he 


124  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

came  forward  in  a  way  that  was  to  give  a  marked  character 
to  the  whole  remainder  of  his  life. 

The  circumstances  are  these : — The  second  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Scots  had  published  their  Acts.  Hall,  in  his 
palace  at  Exeter,  had  procured  a  copy  of  them,  and  had  been 
reading  with  indignation  the  stuff  put  forth  by  "  these  ignorant 
factionists."  He  is  so  moved  that,  the  very  next  day  (Sept. 
28),  he  writes  to  Laud  at  Lambeth.1  As  the  reconquest  of 
Scotland  to  the  true  Church  by  the  sword  was  not  now  to 
be  hoped,  might  not  means  be  taken,  he  asks,  at  least  to 
counteract  the  mischievous  nonsense  which  the  Scots  were 
propagating  ?  What,  for  example,  if  his  Grace  were  to  advise 
his  Majesty  to  call  a  General  Synod  of  the  bishops,  doctors, 
and  other  dignitaries  "  of  the  whole  three  kingdoms "  to 
discuss  the  "  schismatical  points  "  ?  Would  not  the  effect 
be,  if  not  "  chokingly  to  convince  "  the  Scottish  schismatics, 
at  least  to  "  hiss  them  out  of  countenance  "  ?  To  this  sug- 
gestion Laud,  after  consulting  the  King,  replies  that  there 
are  strong  reasons  of  State  against  the  calling  of  any  such 
Synod,  but  that  Hall's  zeal  is  to  -be  commended,  and  that, 
if  Hall  himself  were  to  employ  his  well-known  powers  in  a 
written  confutation  of  the  Scottish  schismatics,  the  result 
might  be  little  less  authoritative.  Hall  is  a  little  taken 
aback  by  the  honour  so  proposed  to  him,  and  he  intimates 
(Oct.  18)  that  it  would  be  more  comfortable  for  him  to  be 
associated  in  the  work  with  a  select  jury  of  other  bishops 
and  divines.  Might  not  Laud  himself,  if  his  Grace's  leisure 
would  allow  him,  appear  at  the  head  of  "  the  learned  squad- 
ron," together  with  Morton  of  Durham  and  Davenant  of 
Salisbury  for  England,  Primate  Usher  and  bishops  Bedell 
and  Lesley  for  Ireland,  and  some  of  the  exiled  Scottish 
bishops  for  Scotland  ?  Laud  having,  in  his  reply,  objected 
to  this  plan,  on  account  of  "  the  danger  of  variance,"  Hall 
does  at  length  undertake  the  work  assigned  to  him,  on  con- 
dition that  he  shall  have  the  benefit  of  Laud's  private 

1  The  originals  of  this  and  the  follow-       text,  together  with  Laud's  replies,  are 
ing  letters  of  Hall  referred  to  in  the       in  the  State  Paper  Office. 


1639-40.]      HALL'S  EPISCOPACY  BY  I>IVIM-:  IU<HIT.  125 

advice  during  its  progress.  Accordingly  there  follows  a 
most  characteristic  correspondence  between  the  two  prelates. 
Hall  first  sends  Laud  a  general  outline  or  "  platform  "  of  the 
treatise  he  means  to  write,  with  a  rather  abject  request  for 
his  Grace's  corrections  and  amendments ;  and  Laud  uses  the 
liberty  thus  given  him  in  a  way  which  shows  what  a  source 
of  power  he  had  over  larger  but  less  sincere  natures  than 
his  own  in  his  extreme  definiteness  of  opinion  and  his  habit 
of  sharply  taking  exception  to  whatever  he  disliked.  The 
substance  of  his  criticism  on  Hall's  "  platform  "  is  that  Hall 
concedes  too  much,  and  that,  high  as  he  places  the  claims  of 
Episcopacy,  he  does  not  place  them  high  enough.  Why,  for 
example,  concede  that  "  the  Presbyterian  government  may  be 
of  use  where  Episcopacy  may  not  be  had  "  ?  What  place  in 
all  Christendom  was  there,  having  a  Church  "  more  than  in 
title  only,"  where  Episcopacy  might  'not  be  had  ?  And  then, 
for  safely  steering  the  argument  in  behalf  of  Anglican  Epi- 
scopacy between  the  "  Italian  rock  "  of  the  Ultramontanists  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  "  great  rock  in  the  Lake  of  Geneva  " 
on  the  other,  might  not  Hall  take  this  method  ?  Against  the 
Romanists,  who  admit  in  bishops  only  a  jus  divinum  media- 
turn  "  by,  from,  and  under  the  Pope,"  why  not  assert  a  jus 
divinum  immediatum  "  which  makes  the  Church  aristocratical 
in  bishops  " ;  and  against  the  Genevans,  some  of  whom  did 
not  deny  Episcopacy  to  be  juris  divini  ut  suadentis  vel  appro- 
bantis,  so  long  as  it  was  not  made  imperantis, — nay,  some  of 
whom,  as  Beza,  had  gone  so  far  as  to  allow  it  might  be  juris 
divini  imperantis,  so  long  as  it  was  not  made  universaliter  im- 
perantis, — why  not  maintain  absolutely  and  universally  the 
divine  right  of  Episcopacy  ?  In  any  case,  would  Hall  be  so 
good  as  to  send  his  treatise  to  Lambeth,  bit  by  bit,  as  it  was 
written,  that  there  might  be  farther  consideration  of  it  ? 
With  some  evidence  of  a  feeling  on  Hall's  part  that  he  is 
in  for  it"  with  his  resolute  little  superior,  and  would  like 
at  least  to  have  an  "  attestation  "  from  other  bishops  of  their 
agreement  with  him,  he  acquiesces  in  everything ;  and  the 
result  is  the  appearance  in  London,  in  the  course  of  February 
»-40,  of  a  small  quarto  volume  of  about  280  pages 


126  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

entitled  "  Episcopacy  "by  Divine  Right  asserted  by  Jos.  Hail, 
Bishop  of  Exon"  1 

This  treatise  of  Bishop  Hall's  fell  upon  public  opinion 
in  England  with  great  force,  and  was  to  have  graver  con- 
sequences than  Hall  anticipated.  In  Scotland,  however,  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  attracted  so  much  attention  as  a 
smaller  anonymous  satirical  quarto  of  78  pages,  published 
about  the  same  time,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Epistle  Con- 
gratulatorie  of  Lysim,achus  Nicanor,  of  the  Societie  of  Jesu,  to 
the  Covenanters  of  Scotland,  wherein  is  paralleled  our  sweet 
harmony  and  correspondency  in  divers  materiall  points  of 
Doctrine  and  Practice" c*  The  author  of  this  pamphlet  is 
now  known  to  have  been  a  Scot,  named  John  Corbet,  once 
a  minister  in  Dumbartonshire,  who,  absconding  from  the 
Covenanting  Kirk,  had  gone  over  to  Ireland  and  was  writing 
there  under  Wentworth's  protection.3  Baillie,  who  had  just 
finished  a  little  treatise  of  his  own  on  the  errors  of  the 
Laudians,  thought  it  worth  while  to  append  some  reference 
to  Lysimachus  Mcanor's  pamphlet ;  and,  accordingly,  by  way 
of  counterblast  to  the  two  pamphlets  on  the  Episcopal  side, 
there  came  forth  at  Edinburgh  "  Ladensium  AvTo/cara/cptcr^, 
The  Canterburians'  Self-conviction :  or  an  Evident  Demon- 
stration of  the  avowed  Arminianism,  Poperie,  and  Tyrannic 
of  that  Faction,  by  their  own  Confessions :  with  a  Postscript 
to  the  personate  Jesuite,  Lysimachus  Nicanor,  a  prime  Canter- 
burian."  4 

These  three  pamphlets,  of  Hall,  Corbet,  and  Baillie,  were  all 
in  circulation  early  in  1640. 

RESOLUTIONS  FOR  WAR:  THE  SHORT  PARLIAMENT. 

It  was  not  to  be  a  war  of  the  pen  only.  Even  while  making 
the  Peace  with  the  Scots  at  Berwick,  and  holding  conferences 
with  their  chief  negotiators,  Eothes,  Loudoun,  and  Hender- 

1  Registered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  Feb.        Mr.  Young,  booksellers. 
10,  1639-40,  and  published  by  Natha-  3  Baillie,  I.  163  and  243. 

niel  Butter  at  the  Pied  Bull,  St.  Au-  4  "Revised,  according  to  the  ordin- 

gustine's  Gate.  ance  of  the  General  Assembly,  by  Mr. 

2  Registered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  Feb.  A.  Johnstone,  clerk  thereunto,  "and  pub- 
19,    1639-40,   by  Richard  Badger  and  lished  in  April  1640. 


1639-40.]  RESOLUTIONS  FOR  A  NEW  WAR.  127 

son,  Charles  had  been  writing  over  to  Wentworth,  expressing 
his  hope  that  he  might  soon  have  another  trial  of  "  the  kingly 
way"  with  the  "  rebels"  and  "  incendiaries"  ;  and,  though,  after 
his  return  to  London,  he  was  for  some  time  "  very  melan- 
cholic," 1  his  spirits  rose  as  months  went  on.  Irritation  was 
kept  up  with  the  Scots  by  complaints  of  their  proceedings  in 
their  second  Assembly  and  their  Parliament;  messengers 
whom  they  sent  to  Court  were  denied  audience  ;  and  Winde- 
bank  and  his  Home-office  officials  began  new  arrests  of 
London  citizens,  and  searches  of  their  houses  for  papers,  on 
suspicion  of  complicity  with  the  Scots.2  And  such  pro- 
ceedings were  but  symptoms  of  a  resolution  that  was  forming 
itself  in  the  King's  more  private  councils.  Wentworth,  on 
whom  the  King  was  now  learning,  rather  late  in  the  day,  to 
place  more  dependence  than  on  himself,  came  over  by  ex- 
press invitation  from  Ireland  (Oct.),  wretchedly  invalid  with 
gout  and  other  disorders,  but  with  a  soul  of  iron  still  in  his 
shattered  body.3  People  observed  the  fact,  the  rather  because 
now  more  than  ever  was  the  King  often  closeted  with  a 
cabinet  or  junto  of  ministers  distinct  from  the  general  body 
of  his  Council.  Of  this  junto,  besides  Wentworth,  were  Laud, 
Hamilton,  Cottington,  and  Windebank.  But  the  public 
could  hardly  have  been  prepared  for  the  issue  of  the  delibera- 
tions of  this  junto.  "  December  5,"  writes  Laud  in  his  Diary, 
"  the  King  declared  his  resolution  for  a  Parliament  in  case 
'  of  the  Scottish  Rebellion  (the  first  movers  to  it  were  my 
"  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland,  my  Lord  Marquis  Hamilton,  and 
"  myself),  and  a  resolution  voted  at  the  Board  to  assist  the 
"  King  in  extraordinary  ways,  if  the  Parliament  should  prove 
"  peevish  and  refuse."  4  That  Charles  should  have  consented 
now  to  the  calling  of  a  Parliament,  after  eleven  years  during 
which  it  had  almost  been  treason  in  England  to  mention  the 
word  Parliament,  shows  the  severity  of  the  exigency.  Went- 

»  Clarendon's  Hint  61.  rant,   of  date  Sept.   23,  1639,  in  tho 

8  Among  tho  houses  so  searched  was       8.  P.  O.    See  Vol.  I.  pp.  62,  63. 


the  person  of  tho  name  name  who  had 

been  "servant  "or  apprentice  to  Mil-          *  There  is  a  State  Paper,  of  date 

ton's  father  sixteen  yean  before.    War-       Deo.  5,  1639,  to  tho  samo  effect. 


128  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

worth,  who  had  never  shared  the  King's  extreme  horror  of 
Parliaments,  and  whose  Irish  experience  had  persuaded  him 
that  Parliaments,  if  well  bitted  and  managed,  might  be  made 
to  assist  in  the  policy  of  "  Thorough  "  rather  than  impede  it, 
had  doubtless  over-argued  the  King's  reluctance. 

While  the  summonses  were  out  for  the  new  Parliament,  to 
be  held  on  the  13th  of  April,  and  while  the  word  Parliament 
was  leaping  from  mouth  to  mouth,  with  a  strange  thrill  in 
the  sound,  throughout  the  shires  of  England,  all  means  were 
taken  to  pre-adjust  the  Parliament  to  its  purpose,  and  to  aid 
that  purpose  should  the  Parliament  fail.  There  were  frequent 
meetings  of  the  Council ;  in  which  body  there  were  some 
changes  about  this  time.  The  Earls  of  Northumberland, 
Newport,  and  Berkshire  had  been  recently  added  to  it ;  the 
death  (Jan.  1639-40)  of  the  Lord  Keeper  Coventry  led  to  the 
promotion  to  his  high  place  of  Sir  John  Finch,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas ;  and  in  lieu  of  Secretary  Coke,  who 
had  been  in  disgrace  since  the  Pacification  of  Birks  (he  was 
near  fourscore  years  of  age,  and  nobody  cared  for  him,  says 
Clarendon),  there  was  appointed  the  Treasurer  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  with  a  fixed  division  of  duties  between  him  and  the 
other  Secretary,  Windebank.1  It  having  happened  also  that 
the  resident  Scottish  Secretary  of  State,  the  poetical  Earl  of 
Stirling,  died  about  this  time  (Feb.  1639-40),  Lord  Lanark,  a 
brother  of  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  was  appointed  to  that 
post.  A  certain  number  of  the  councillors,  with  officers  not 
of  the  Council,  were  formed  into  a  Council  of  War,  and  from 
this  Council  of  War  were  chosen  those  who  were  to  command 
in  the  new  expedition  against  the  Scots.2  There  was  no 
thought  this  time  of  the  art-loving  Arundel  for  commander  - 
in-chief.  The  Earl  of  Northumberland,  official  High  Admiral 
already,  was  nominated  instead.  As  Lieutenant-General 
under  him  was  to  be  no  other  than  Wentworth ;  while  for 

1  Various  memoranda  in  S.  P.  0.  of  Hill,"  Feb.  3,  recommending  a  servant 

attendances  at  council  meetings  about  to  his  successor  Vane, 

this  time,    these   attendances   varying  2  There  is  in  the  S.  P.  0.  a  list  of  this 

from  about  10  to  about  20  ;  letter  of  Council  of  War  set  down  by  the  King's 

Reade  in  S.  P.  0.  of  date  Jan.  13,  1639  own  hand  on  the  day  of  their  appoint- 

—40 ;  letter  of  same,  ibid.   Jan.    23  ;  ment,  Dec.  30,  1639. 
letter  of  Coke  himself,  dated  "Garlick 


1639-40.]  PREPARATIONS   FOR  A   NEW  WAR.  129 

the  post  of  Master  of  the  Horse  there  was  found  a  nobleman 
who,  it  was  thought,  would  figure  better  in  that  capacity  than 
the  Earl  of  Holland,  the  hero  of  the  Kelso  raid.  This  was  the 
intelligent  and  amiable  Edward,  Lord  Conway,  son  of  the 
Lord  Conway  who  had  been  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  State  in 
the  first  years  of  Charles's  reign.  He  was  in  the  prime  of 
life,  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  service,  and  was  brought  over 
from  Holland  on  purpose  by  Wentworth's  advice.1 

The  supreme  trust  which  Charles  now  placed  in  Wentworth 
himself  was  apparent.  Indeed,  Wentworth  was  no  longer 
merely  Lord  Wentworth,  Deputy  for  Ireland  ;  he  was  Earl 
of  Strafford,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  That  earldom  for 
which  he  had  twice  applied  in  vain  was  now  (Jan.  12, 
1639-40)  voluntarily  accorded  to  him,  with  the  other  dignity 
in  addition.2  The  King  clung  to  him  as  his  mainstay ;  and 
he  remained  in  England  till  March.  During  his  six  months' 
stay  in  England  he  had  done  wonders.  He  had  headed,  with 
a  subscription  of  20,000/.,  the  loan  to  the  King  which  it  had 
been  agreed,  at  the  time  of  a  resolution  for  a  Parliament,  to 
raise  among  the  Lords  of  Council  and  other  nobles.  The 
Duke  of  Lennox  had  put  down  his  name  for  a  like  sum,  and 
other  nobles  had  followed  with  smaller  offers  according  to 
their  ardour  and  means.  Among  those  who  were  greatly 
inconvenienced  by  the  new  tax  upon  their  loyalty  was  our 
friend  the  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  the  "  Earl "  of  Milton's  Comus. 
There  is  a  long  and  anxious  private  correspondence  in  the 
State  Paper  Office  between  him  and  Secretary  Windebank  on 
the  subject.  The  Earl,  writing  from  his  house  in  the  Barbican, 
says  that  it  was  his  intention  to  "lend  his  Majesty  o,000/.," 
but  that  he  has  no  ready  means,  and,  though  he  has  applied 
to  "  several  scriveners  of  his  acquaintance,"  they  cannot  help 
him  with  even  500/.  In  a  subsequent  letter  he  says  that  he 
has  been  disappointed  of  a  sum  of  1,000/.  which  one  scrivener 
kid  promised  him.  His  prrplrxi  lies  WON  increased  by  Winde- 
1  Kink's  replies;  which  were  to  the  effect  that,  raise  the' 
money  how  he  might,  the  King  would  expect  10,000/.  from 

»  Conway  Letters  in  8.  P.  0.,  Jan.  1 039  40. 
*  Clarendon,  51. 

VOL.    II  K 


130  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

him,  and  that,  if  he  would  give  the  security  of  one  of  his 
manors  or  so,  with  a  clear  title,  Windebank  might  manage  to 
raise  the  sum  for  him,  or  7,0 OO/.  of  it,  among  the  usurers. 
The  correspondence  closes  rather  indistinctly,  but  with  some- 
thing like  tears  in  the  Earl's  eyes  on  account  of  the  straits  to 
which  he  is  driven,  and  with  anxiety  as  to  the  time  when  he 
may  expect  repayment,  so  as  to  be  able  to  arrange  for  the 

"  payment  of  his  debts  and  provision  for  his  children.  " 

When  he  speaks  of  the  "  scriveners  of  his  acquaintance  "  to 
whom  he  had  applied  for  money,  one  thinks  of  the  ex- 
scrivener  John  Milton,  and  wonders  whether,  even  in  his 
retirement  at  Horton,  the  poet's  father  still  did  a  little  in 
money-lending.1 

Just  two  days  before  the  meeting  of  the  Parliament  on 
which  so  much  depended,  the  King  dealt  a  bold  stroke  which 
was  meant  to  tell  on  that  assembly.  There  had  been  in 
London  since  January  a  deputation  from  the  Scottish  Com- 
mittee of  the  Estates,  imploring  the  King  to  ratify  the  acts 
of  the  late  General  Assembly,  and  allow  the  Scottish  Parlia- 
ment to  resume  business.  This  deputation,  consisting  of  Lord 
Loudoun,  the  Earl  of  Dunfermline,  Douglas  of  Cavers,  and 
Provost  Barclay  of  Irvine,  had  had  several  meetings  with  the 
King,  but  had  effected  nothing.  There  had  come  into  the 
King's  possession,  however,  a  draft  of  a  letter  which  had  been 
written  before  the  last  war  by  some  of  the  Scottish  leaders. 
It  was  a  letter  in  French,  addressed  "  Au  Roy"  signed  by 
Montrose,  Eothes,  General  Leslie,  Loudoun,  and  one  or  two 
others,  and  intended  apparently  to  be  sent  to  the  French 
King,  Louis  XIII.,  to  solicit  his  and  Richelieu's  interest  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Scots.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  letter 
was  sent ;  but  the  draft  was  enough.  Was  not  this  treason  ? 
Would  not  the  English  think  differently  of  the  Scots  on  this 
proof  of  their  having  been  in  communication,  or  having 
intended  communication,  with  a  foreign  power  ?  Summonses 
were  sent  to  Leslie  and  others  who  had  signed  the  draft, 

1  The  dates  of  the  letters  between  bank  had  called   personally  upon  the 

the  Earl  and  Windebank,  now  in  the  Earl  in  his  hoiise  in  the  Barbican  about 

S.  P.  0.,  are  as  follows:  Jan.  4,  1639-  the  money. 
40  ;  Jan.  7  ;  Jan.  28  ;  Feb.  10.    Winde- 


1639-40.] 


THE  SHORT   PARLIAMENT. 


131 


requiring  their  presence  in  London ;  but,  as  they  were  wise 
enough  to  stay  where  they  were,  the  brunt  of  the  Kind's 
wrath  had  to  be  borne  by  poor  Loudoun.  On  the  llth  of 
April  he  was  committed  to  the  Tower ;  where  he  lay  for  more 
than  two  months,  with  as  near  a  prospect  as  ever  prisoner 
had  of  a  chop  with  the  executioner's  axe  on  a  scaffold  on 
Tower  Hill.1 

Neither  the  letter  "Au  Roy  "  nor  all  the  King's  precautions 
and  efforts  besides  made  anything  of  the  Parliament  to  his 
purpose.  It  was  a  Parliament,  the  Commons  House  at  least, 
of  that  old  indomitable  English  stuff  which  had  sufficiently 
disgusted  the  King  with  Parliaments  already.  Led  by  Pym, 
it  entered  at  once  on  the  vast  question  of  the  grievances  of 
the  country  as  they  had  been  accumulated  during  eleven 
years  of  arbitrary  licence,  and  it  would  not  even  discuss,  until 
that  question  should  be  settled,  the  twelve  subsidies  which 
the  King  wanted  immediately  to  defray  Scottish  war-expenses. 
In  a  fit  of  despair  the  King  dissolved  the  Parliament,  after  it 
had  sat  but  about  three  weeks  (April  13 — May  5, 1640),  and 
secured  for  itself  a  peculiar  place  in  English  History  under 
the  name  of  THE  SHORT  PARLIAMENT.2 

The  chief  positive  interest  attached  to  this  Parliament 
arose  from  the  fact  that  the  Convocation  of  the  Clergy,  which 
had  met  at  the  same  time  in  St.  Paul's,  did  not  come 
to  an  end  with  the  Parliament,  as  was  the  custom,  but,  by 
the  King's  desire,  sat  on  for  three  weeks  longer  (till  May  29). 
The  extra  time  thus  allowed  it  was  employed  in  voting  a 
"  benevolence  "  to  the  King  of  20,000/.  annually  for  six  years, 
and  also  on  a  scheme  of  Laud's  for  revising  the  Canons  of  the 
( 'hurch,  so  as  to  adapt  them  to  existing  emergencies.  It  was 
very  dangerous  work.  Since  the  Reformation  the  most 

••  with  it  by  his  Majesty  himself,  to  his 
"  Majesty's  own  hand,  at  Whitehall,  in 
"  the  presence  of  the  Lord-Maniuis  Ha- 
"milton,  the  llth  of  April,  1640."  The 
summonses  to  Leslie,  Argyle,  &c.,  to 
come  to  London,  were  issued  March  8  - 
10,  as  appears  by  copies  in  the  8.  P.  0. 
2  For  proceedings  of  this  Parliament, 
with  lists  of  members,  see  Rushworth, 
III.  1104-1160;  and,  for  briefer  sum. 
M,  May's  Hist,  (edit  1812),  39-41 ; 
and  Clarendon,  53—56. 


1    Soo  Rushworth,   III.   1120,   where 
i«  an  English  version  of  the  letter 
In  the  S.  P.  O.  is  a  copy  of 
the  French  original,  endorsed  byWmde- 
bank  as  follows:  "The  original  of  this 
"  letter  was  delivered  to  me  by  his  Ma- 
jesty at  Whitehall  the  10th  of  April. 
'  1640.     When  I  had  made  this  copy  of 
4  the  Covenanters'  letter  to  be  sent  to 
4  the  Earl  of  Leicester  (ambassador  at 
4  Paris),  I  delivered  the  original  letter. 
4  after  this  copy  had  been  compared 


132  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

extreme  jealousy  had  been  shown  by  the  law  of  England 
of  such  separate  corporate  action  of  the  clergy ;  and,  if  the 
law  were  to  assert  itself  in  this  case,  high  penalties  were  sure 
to  be  the  consequence.  Accordingly,  a  good  many  members 
of  Convocation  protested  against  the  preparation  of  new 
Canons  as  beyond  their  power.  But  Laud  and  the  majority 
persevered  ;  and  a  body  of  seventeen  new  Canons,  which  had 
been  drawn  up,  was  finally  authenticated  as  the  Acts  of  the 
Synod  by  the  signatures  of  Laud,  fourteen  bishops,  and 
eighty-nine  inferior  clergymen.  Among  the  Canons  one  of 
the  most  important  was  Canon  VI.,  enjoining  an  oath  to  be 
taken  before  the  2nd  of  November  following  by  all  clergymen 
of  the  Church  ;  two  of  the  clauses  of  which  oath  were  to  this 
effect : — "  I,  A.  B.,  do  swear  that  I  do  approve  the  doctrine 
"  and  discipline  or  government  established  in  the  Church  of 
"  England  as  containing  all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  .  .  . 
"  nor  will  I  ever  give  my  consent  to  alter  the  government  of 
"  this  Church  by  Archbishops,  Bishops,  Deans,  and  Arch- 
"  deacons,  &c.,  as  it  now  stands  established,  and  by  right 
"  ought  to  stand."  It  was  the  first  time,  said  the  opponents 
of  the  Canons,  that  ever  men  had  been  required  to  swear 
to  an  etcetera.  The  Canon,  in  fact,  came  to  be  memorable 
as  the  Etcetera  Oath} 

Suspecting  complicity  between  the  Puritan  leaders  of  the 
Parliament  and  the  Scottish  Covenanters,  the  King  caused 
several  of  the  former  to  be  arrested  immediately  after  the  dis- 
solution, and  the  houses  of  others,  both  peers  and  commoners, 
to  be  searched  for  papers.  With  the  same  view,  Loudoun 
being  already  safe  in  the  Tower,  his  two  fellow-agents  for  the 
Covenanters,  Douglas  of  Cavers  and  Provost  Barclay  of  Irvine, 
were  subjected  to  a  rigorous  examination.2  What  with  such 

'  gatory  he  saith  that  he  never  had  any 


1  Rushworth,    III.    1186-7  ;    Fuller's 
Church     Hist.,      anno     1640     (where 
Fuller  gives  an  account  of  the  Convo- 
cation   from    his    own    recollections)  ; 
Neal's  Hist,   of  the  Puritans,   II.   329 
—  336 ;     and   Convocation    Papers    in 
S.  P.  0. 

2  The    following   is   from    the    MS. 
examination    of    Douglas    of    Cavers, 

signed  by  himself,  in  the  S.  P.  0.,  dated       Covenanter  in  a  London  playhouse  ! 
May  9,   1640:    "To  the  first    interro- 


'  conference  at  all  with  any  of  the  Lower 
'  House  of  Parliament,  saving  that  he 
'  met,  in  the  Playhouse  at  the  Cockpit 
'in  Drury  Lane,  Sir  William  Wither- 
'  ington  and  Sir  William  Carnaby  ;  but 
'  he  had  no  speech  with  them  concerning 
'any  business  in  Parliament,  nor  did 
'  anything  but  salute  them. "  A  Scottish 


1639-40.]  RIOTS  IN  LONDON.  133 

incidents  as  these,  following  the  shock  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
Parliament,  and  what  with  the  rage  against  the  Clergy  caused 
by  their  continued  sitting  in  Convocation  and  passing  Canons 
after  the  Parliament  had  been  dismissed,  the  commotion  in 
London  rose  to  the  pitch  of  riot.  "  Saturday,  May  9,"  writes 
Laud  in  his  Diary, "  a  paper  posted  upon  the  Old  Exchange, 
animating  the  Prentices  to  sack  my  house  upon  the  Monday 
following  early  "  ;  and  again,  "  At  midnight  (Monday,  May 
11)  my  house  at  Lambeth  was  beset  by  500  of  these  rascal 
routers."  They  were  full  two  hours  at  the  gates  of  Lambeth 
Palace,  but  did  not  succeed  in  getting  in.  But  for  several 
days  the  riots  continued,  both  in  the  City  and  in  Southwark  ; 
and  on  the  15th  White  Lion  prison  and  the  King's  Bench 
prison  were  broken  open  by  a  mob,  and  the  prisoners  released. 
In  connexion  with  which  old  London  riot  take  the  following 
little  story : — 

Documents  in  the  State  Paper  Office  enable  me  to  recognise 
as  one  of  the  rioters  a  certain  John  Archer,  living  in 
Southwark.  He  was  a  poor  never -do- well,  by  trade  a 
glover,  ruined  by  a  legacy  of  50/.  left  him  by  a  deceased 
uncle.  The  money  had  been  left  in  the  hands  of  a  Robert 
Maynard,  of  Middlesex,  gentleman,  with  instructions  to  dole 
it  out  to  Archer  as  he  required  it.  About  30/.  had  been 
already  drawn,  and  early  in  May,  according  to  Mr.  Maynard's 
statement,  Archer  had  called  on  him  for  ten  shillings  more  on 
account.  Since  then  Mr.  Maynard  had  heard  nothing  of  him, 
till  he  learnt  by  chance  that  he  had  been  seen  among  the 
rioters  of  Lambeth,  acting  as  their  drummer.  It  was  quite 
true.  Archer,  conspicuous  among  all  the  rest  by  his  drum, 
had  been  caught,  and  sent  to  White  Lion  prison.  Thence 
the  mob  had  released  him,  apparently  attacking  that  prison 
for  the  purpose.  He  had  been  re-apprehended,  however ;  and 
the  following  is  a  royal  warrant  relating  to  him,  dated  the 
21st  of  May,  and  addressed  "  To  our  trusty  and  well-beloved 
Sir  William  Balfour,  Knt.,  Lieutenant  of  our  Tower  of 
London."  The  particular  attention  of  the  reader  is  requested 
to  the  Warrant,  now  for  the  first  time  made  public  :  "  Trusty 
"and  well- beloved:  We  greet  you  well  Our  will  and 


134  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  pleasure  is  that  to-morrow  morning,  by  seven  of  the  clock, 
"  you  cause  John  Archer  to  be  carried  to  the  rack,  and  that 
"  there  yourself,  together  with  Sir  Ealph  Whitfield  and  Sir 
"  Eobert  Heath,  Knights,  our  Serjeants-at-law,  shall  examine 
"  him  upon  such  questions  as  our  said  Serjeants  shall  think 
"  fit  to  propose  to  him ;  and  if,  on  sight  of  the  rack,  he  shall 
"  not  make  a  clear  answer  to  the  said  questions,  then  our  will 
"  and  pleasure  is  that  you  cause  him  to  be  racked  as  in  your 
"  and  their  discretion  shall  be  thought  fit.  And,  when  he  shall 
"  have  made  a  full  answer,  then  the  same  is  to  be  brought  to 
"  us,  and  you  are  still  to  detain  him  close  prisoner  until  you 
"  receive  farther  orders.  And  this  shall  be,  as  well  to  you  as 
"  to  our  said  Serjeants,  sufficient  warrant  and  discharge  in  this 
"  behalf.  Given  under  our  signet,  at  our  Court  at  Whitehall, 
"21  May,  1640."  Students  of  the  Constitutional  History 
of  England  may  remember  what  Rush  worth  states  in  con- 
nexion with  the  great  case  of  the  trial  of  Felton  (Nov.  1628) 
for  the  assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  It  having 
then  been  proposed  by  some  of  the  Council  to  put  Felton  to 
the  rack  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  he  had  any  accomplices, 
and  the  question  of  the  legality  of  such  a  proceeding  having 
been  put  to  the  Judges,  "  all  the  justices,"  says  Eushworth, 
"  being  assembled  at  Serjeants'  Inn  in  Fleet  Street,  agreed 
"  in  one  that  he  ought  not,  by  the  law,  to  be  tortured  by  the 
"  rack,  for  no  such  punishment  is  known  or  allowed  by  our 
"  law."  ]  This  was  eleven  years  and  a  half  before  Charles 
issued,  under  his  own  signet,  the  above  warrant  in  the  case  of 
the  Southwark  rioter.  Whether  the  warrant  was  executed 
my  authorities  do  not  enable  me  to  say  ;  but  if,  as  I  suppose, 
Archer  was  the  particular  rioter  who  is  mentioned  by  Laud 
in  his  Diary  as  having  been  condemned  on  Thursday  the  21st 
of  May,  and  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  at  Southwark  on 
Saturday  the  23rd,  then  the  warrant  for  his  torture  must  have 
been  issued  between  his  condemnation  and  his  execution.2 

1  Eushworth,  I.  638.  a  clerk  of  Sir  Joseph  Williamson,  Secre- 

2  There  are  two  copies  of  the  warrant  tary  of  State  after  the  Restoration,  who 
in  the  S.  P.  0.  :  one  a  contemporary  may  have  been  interested  in  the  docu- 
draft  in  Reade's  or  Windebank's  hand-  ment  as  a  curiosity  in  his  office, 
writing  ;  the  other  apparently  made  by 


1639-40.]  SECOND  "  BISHOPS'  WAR."  135 


THE   SECOND  "BISHOPS*  WAR"   WITH   THE  SCOTS, 

Meanwhile  the  two  armies  were  being  mustered  and  drilled 
in  their  respective  countriea  The  English  army  arrangements 
were  superintended  by  Lord  Con  way,  who  had  for  some  time 
had  his  head-quarters  at  Newcastle ;  the  Scots  were  coming 
together  more  quietly  under  their  old  commander,  Field- 
marshal  Leslie.  "  It  is  just  that  you  know  somewhat  of  the 
"  estate  I  am  in,"  we  find  the  light-hearted  Conway  writing 
from  Newcastle,  on  the  28th  of  May,  to  a  lady  with  whom  he 
was  keeping  up  a  lover-like  correspondence  :  "  I  am  teaching 
"  cart-horses  to  manage,  and  making  men  that  are  fit  for  Bed- 
"  lam  and  Bridewell  to  keep  the  Ten  Commandments.  So 
"  that  General  Leslie  and  I  keep  two  schools:  he  hath 
"  scholars  that  profess  to  serve  God,  and  he  is  instructing 
"  them  how  they  may  safely  do  injury  and  all  impiety  ;  mine, 
"  to  the  uttermost  of  their  power,  never  kept  any  law  either 
"  of  God  or  the  King,  and  they  are  come  to  be  made  fit  to 
"  make  others  keep  them."1  From  this  description  of  the 
English  army  we  should  infer  that  it  was  composed  of  ele- 
ments as  ill-assorted  and  as  disaffected  for  their  work  as  the 
former  army  had  been.  Probably,  as  before,  poverty  of  sup- 
plies had  much  to  do  with  it.  Disappointed  of  his  subsidies 
from  Parliament,  the  King  was  employing  the  most  desperate 
measures  to  raise  such  means  as,  added  to  the  loan  from 
the  nobles,  the  benevolence  from  the  clergy,  and  the  Irish 
subsidies  which  Strafford  had  procured,  might  maintain  the 
army  through  a  campaign.  The  City  of  London  had  been 
applied  to  for  a  loan  of  200,OOOJ. ;  and,  for  the  better  raising 
of  this  loan,  the  Aldermen  of  the  several  wards  had  been 
required  to  send  in  lists  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  each  ward 
able  to  subscribe,  with  a  note  of  the  sum  that  might  be  fairly 
expected  from  each  person.  For  the  contempt  of  this  order 
four  Aldermen  had  been  sent  to  prison.  There  were  also  all 
sorts  of  Excise  and  Customs  devices,  ship-money  distraints, 

»  Conway  MSS.  in  S.  P.  0. 


136  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTOEY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

sales  of  patents  and  monopolies,  &c.  In  particular,  there  was 
a  rate  for  clothing  and  travelling  expenses  for  the  troops, 
under  the  name  of  "  coat  and  conduct  money,"  to  the  levying 
of  which  there  was  much  opposition  in  the  counties.1  It 
must  have  been  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  getting  in  moneys 
by  all  these  means  that  there  was  so  long  a  delay  in  bringing 
the  English  expedition  to  bear.  All  through  the  months  of 
June  and  July,  and  during  a  part  of  August,  Conway  was 
still  in  the  North,  doing  his  best  with  his  levies,  the  grievous 
billeting  of  whom  among  the  inhabitants  of  Yorkshire  and 
other  northern  counties  led  to  petitions  which  Strafford  de- 
nounced as  "  mutinous."  Strafford,  who  had  returned  from 
Ireland  in  April,  still  in  a  wretched  state  of  health,  was 
giving  his  services  mainly  in  London  ;  and  the  Earl  of  North- 
umberland, though  Commander-in-chief,  had  also  the  plea  of 
ill-health  for  absence  from  military  duty.  I  suspect  that, 
with  the  Earl's  sentiments,  he  was  glad  to  have  the  plea.  All 
rested  on  Conway. 

The  delay  was  to  the  advantage  of  the  Scots.  Punctually 
on  the  second  of  June,  to  which  day  their  Parliament  stood 
prorogued,  they  reassembled  in  Parliament ;  and  though,  in 
consequence  of  the  absence  of  Traquair,  the  King's  Com- 
missioner, they  had  to  constitute  themselves  rather  irregu- 
larly, they  sat  till  the  12th.  Leslie  was  formally  reappointed 
Commander-in-chief,  with  Lord  Almont  for  his  Lieutenant- 
general  ;  and  the  direction  of  the  war,  with  the  supreme 
government  of  Scotland  until  Parliament  should  reassemble 
in  quieter  times,  was  vested  in  a  Committee  of  forty  persons 
called  "The  Committee  of  Estates."  Not  long  after  the 
Parliament,  the  Scots  held  also  their  third  General  Assembly. 
It  met  at  Aberdeen  on  the  28th  of  July,  with  Mr.  Andrew 
Eamsay  for  Moderator,  and  sat  till  the  5th  of  August,  getting 
through  business  of  detail  (some  of  it  of  a  perplexing  nature) 
which  had  accumulated  since  the  preceding  Assembly. 

The  arrangements  of  the  Scots  at  this  season  were  not  all 


1  Henry  Bulstrode    of  Horton   was       21.  and  3/.  (Return  for  Bucks  in  S.  P.  0. 
among  the  defaulters  for  a  rate  on  his       of  date  July  1640. ) 
property,  under  this  head,  of  between 


1639-40.]  SECOND  "  BISHOPS'  WAR"  137 

deliberative.  While  Leslie  was  gathering  his  army  south- 
wards, there  was  the  same  necessity  as  in  the  former  war  for 
taking  precautions  against  such  Non-Covenanting  elements 
as  still  smouldered  within  Scotland  itself. 

In  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh  the  King  had  placed  General 
Kuthven  as  commander,  and  it  was  not  so  easy  to  take  this 
castle  from  Ruthven  as  it  had  been  to  win  it  before  the  first 
war.  Ruthven,  when  summoned  to  surrender,  had  even 
opened  fire  upon  the  town ;  and,  as  stray  shooting  went  on 
between  the  citizens  and  the  soldiers  on  the  ramparts  from 
day  to  day,  eighty  persons  had  been  killed.  On  the  whole,  it 
was  deemed  best  to  let  the  castle  alone  till  there  should  have 

been  a  settlement  with  the  English  army.—          In  the 

disaffected  Aberdeenshire  districts,  on  the  other  hand,  Colonel 
(now  General)  Monro  was  taking  precautions  that  were  re- 
morselessly effective.  While  the  Assembly  was  in  Aberdeen, 
Monro  was  ranging  in  its  neighbourhood  as  far  as  to  the  Strath- 
bogie  mansion  and  estates  of  the  Marquis  of  Huntley,  who 
was  then  in  England  with  the  King  ;  and  he  did  not  cease  till 
he  had  left  that  dangerous  county  "  almost  manless,  money- 
less, horseless,  armless."-  — It  was  at  this  time  also  that 
Argyle  made  that  precautionary  raid,  for  the  Committee  of 
Estates,  through  the  border-highlands  of  Dumbartonshire, 
Perthshire,  and  Forfarshire,  then  the  region  of  the  Non- 
Covenanting  houses  of  Ogilvy,  Murray,  and  Stuart,  of  which 
there  is  such  pathetic  commemoration  in  the  old  ballad— 

"  Gin  my  gude  lord  had  been  at  hame, 
As  this  nicht  he  is  wi'  Charlie, 
There's  no  a  Campbell  in  a'  Argyle 
Durst  hae  plundered  the  bonnie  house  o'  Airly  !  "l 

About  the  middle  of  August  1640,  Leslie,  without  Argyle 
in  liis  company  this  time,  but  with  an  army  of  22,000  foot 
and  :S,000  horse,  besides  artillery,  was  at  his  old  quarters  at 
Dunse,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  border.  But  this  time 
there  was  no  waiting  for  the  King  to  invade  Scotland  There 
had  been  communications,  the  extent  of  which  never  can  be 

u  of  Scottish  Parliament ;  Baillio,  I.  247,  Ac. ;  Stovoiwon,  432-3  ;  Spalding, 
&c. 


138  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

known,  but  the  existence  of  which  to  some  extent  can  be 
proved,  between  individual  Scottish  leaders  and  representa- 
tives, authorized  or  self-authorized,  of  the  English  Puritans ; 
and,  whether  influenced  by  such  communications,  or  simply  on 
calculation  what  policy  would  now  be  the  best,  both  Leslie 
and  the  Committee  of  Estates  had  resolved  that  it  was  for  the 
Scots  this  time  to  invade  England.  From  Dunse,  accord- 
ingly, the  word  was  given — "  March."  They  did  march.  On 
Thursday  the  20th  of  August,  the  Scottish  army  crossed  the 
Tweed  at  Coldstream,  without  opposition,  and  with  the  loss  of 
but  one  man  by  drowning,  the  foot-soldiers  wading  to  the 
middle,  while  the  horse  broke  the  force  of  the  current  above 
them.  The  first  man  to  cross,  and  to  stand  as  an  invader  on 
the  English  soil,  was  the  young  Earl  of  Montrose.  They  wore 
blue  caps,  with  a  prevailing  uniform  of  hodden-grey,  and  each 
man  had  a  haversack  of  oatmeal  strapped  to  his  back.1 

The  first  resting-place  of  the  Scots  was  at  Cornhill  in 
Northumberland,  about  a  mile  from  the  Tweed.  Thence,  on 
the  following  clay,  they  advanced  through  the  villages  of 
Crooksham  and  Nethershaw,  as  far  as  a  place  called  Millfield. 
"  The  army  began  to  march  from  Cornell,"  writes  an  English 
eye-witness,  "  yesterday  about  1 2  of  the  clock  :  the  General 
"  first,  with  some  forty  or  fifty  at  his  back  ;  then,  some  quarter 
"  of  a  mile  after  him,  the  horse-troops  in  ranks  and  very  fine 
"  order  ;  and,  after  them,  the  foot,  in  five  men  deep,  from  the 
"  first  regiment  to  the  last ;  and  then  two  or  three  troops  of 
"  horse  last ;  and,  a  little  wide  of  their  camp,  all  their  car- 
"  riages  of  horse- waggons  and  carts  in  abundance,  with  their 
"  provision  of  beds  and  victuals.  Their  number  [i.e.  of  the 
"  carriage-waggons,  &c.]  was  of  itself  like  a  huge  army,  being 
"  four  pair  of  butts  wide  of  the  way  the  army  did  march. 
u  But,  for  their  ordnance  and  field-pieces,  they  followed  their 
"  companies  in  order,  together  with  an  abundance  of  carriage- 
"  wheels  ;  every  pair  thrust  along  before  a  man  to  every  pair 
"  of  carriage-wheels,  and  the  pieces  provided  in  time  of  need 
"  all  carried  in  great  close  waggons,  bigger  than  horse-litters, 
"  and  drawn  by  horses.  There  was  in  this  march  only  eight 

i  Baillie,  I.  256. 


1639-40.]  SECOND  "BISHOPS'  WAR."  139 

"  cannons  of  brass,  drawn  with  six  oxen  and  two  horses  to 
"  every  cannon,  but  an  abundance  of  smaller  field-pieces,  some 
"  long  and  some  short,  drawn  with  one  horse  in  fine  light 
"  carriages."  As  to  the  total  number  he  could  but  form  a  guess ; 
but,  at  Crooksham,  where  he  was  stationed,  it  was  five  hours, 
or  from  three  o'clock  to  eight  in  the  evening,  before  they  had 
all  passed.  "  One  omission  I  have  made,"  he  continues, 
"  which  is  now  remembered, — their  strength  of  arms ;  which 
"  is  none  at  all  of  their  bodies  [i.e.  no  body  armour],  not  so 
"  much  as  a  gorget  or  corslet,  I  know  not  whether  you  call  it. 
"  In  one  word,  the  horse  have  all  pike-staves,  swords,  and 
"  pistols  ;  some  have  petronels,  but  few  ;  and  their  horse  few 
"  or  none  at  all  on  great  horses  :  most  of  them  middling  nags 
"  and  geldings ;  all  the  whole,  both  horse  and  foot,  in  blue 
"  caps,  saving  the  lords,  and  some  few  in  jacks.  For  the  foot, 
"  all  naked  of  armour  as  before ;  only  their  muskets  and 
"  swords,  with  short  staves,  one  yard  and  a  half  long,  with  a 
"  pike  off  either  end ;  and  the  rest  with  pikes  and  swords  ;  and 
"  the  Highlanders  with  bows  and  arrows,  and  some  have  swords, 
"  and  some  none.  They  are  the  nakedest  fellows,  the  High- 
"  landers,  that  ever  I  saw."  This  same  eye-witness  testifies 
to  the  good  behaviour  of  the  army.  u  They  are  so  careful 
"  for  doing  harm,"  he  says,  "  by  their  strict  proclamation 
"  of  pain  of  death  not  to  stir  man,  woman,  or  child ;  not  so 
"  much  as  a  word  to  fright  any,  nor  not  to  steal  the  worth  of 
"  a  chicken  nor  one  pot  of  ale,  but  to  pay  for  it ;  and,  for  corn, 
"  if  any  man  suffer  his  horse  to  bite  of  it,  and  any  seeing  him 
"  catch  him  by  the  bridle,  he  shall  have  him  for  his  pains."  1 
This  extreme  carefulness  not  in  any  way  to  offend  the  English 
was  in  accordance  with  most  special  instructions  issued  by 
the  Committee  of  Estates.  Among  several  printed  papers 
they  had  prepared,  and  which  the  army  carried  with  them, 
justifying  the  invasion,  was  one  addressed  to  the  English 
people.  "As  we  attest  the  God  of  Heaven,"  said  this 
paper,  "  that  these  and  no  other  are  our  intentions,  so,  upon 
"  the  same  great  attestation,  do  we  declare  .  .  .  that  we  will 

»  ThU  graphic  lottor  ia  in  the  8.  P.  0.,  in  the  bundle  of  papers  for  Aug.  1640, 
but  bean  no  signature. 


140  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  not  take  from  our  friends  and  brethren  from  a  thread  even 
"  to  a  shoe-latchet  but  for  our  own  moneys  and  the  just  pay- 
"  ment ;  that  we  come  among  them  as  their  friends  and 
"  brethren,  very  sensible  of  their  by-past  sufferings  and  pre- 
"  sent  dangers  both  in  religion  and  liberties,  and  most  willing 
"  to  do  them  all  the  good  we  can,  like  as  we  certainly  expect 
"  that  they,  for  the  like  sense  of  our  hard  condition  and  in- 
"  tolerable  distress,  which  hath  forced  us  to  come  from  our 
"  own  country,  will  join  and  concur  with  us  in  the  most  just 
"  and  noble  ways  for  obtaining  their  and  our  most  just 
"  desires."  Scattering  this  and  other  proclamations  before 
them,  the  Scots  continued  to  advance  into  Northumberland.1 
On  the  news  of  the  Scottish  invasion  Charles  and  Strafford 
hurried  north.  They  were  at  York  on  the  23rd,  whence  what- 
ever orders  they  had  to  give  were  sent  on  to  Conway  at  New- 
castle. One  such  order  was  sent  from  York  on  the  27th,  and 
the  messenger  carrying  it  was  accompanied  by  JohnEushworth, 
the  Lincoln's  Inn  lawyer  and  collector,  then  on  a  journey  of 
business  or  curiosity  into  those,  his  native,  parts.  But,  before 
this  order  reached  Conway,  a  portion  of  his  forces  was  already 
in  action  with  the  Scots.  The  Scots  had  come  as  far  as 
Newburn,  about  four  miles  from  Newcastle,  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Tyne,  and  Conway  had  sent  a  body  of  5,000 
horse  and  foot  to  watch  their  movements  and  prevent  their 
crossing  the  river.  For  about  a  day  nothing  was  done  on 
either  side,  the  English  employing  themselves  in  making- 
two  trenches  or  works  for  cannon  on  the  south  side,  and  the 
soldiers  on  both  sides  watering  their  horses  without  the  least 
sign  of  mutual  ill-will.  But,  on  Friday  the  28th,  an  English 
soldier  having  taken  a  shot  at  a  Scottish  officer  with  a  black 
feather,  whose  leisurely  manner  of  watering  his  horse  and 
looking  at  the  English  trenches  at  the  same  time  was  too  pro- 
voking to  be  overlooked,  the  battle  was  brought  on.  From 
the  crackle  of  small-arms  it  came  to  the  boom  of  cannon. 
The  Scottish  cannon,  being  on  higher  ground,  and  some  of  it 
in  the  steeple  of  Newburn  church,  did  most  damage ;  and,  as 
it  was  then  low  tide,  and  one  of  the  English  trenches  had  been 

1  Kushworth,  III.  1223—1227,  and  Appendix  to  same  vol,  pp.  283—291. 


1639-40.]  SECOND  "BISHOPS*   WAU."  141 

abandoned,  Leslie  ordered  a  troop  of  his  horse  to  cross.  As 
they  were  doing  so,  the  English  of  the  other  trench,  still 
galled  by  Leslie's  cannon,  forsook  it,  in  spite  of  all  that  Colonel 
Lunsford  could  do  to  keep  them  to  their  work ;  and,  when 
more  and  still  more  of  the  Scots  were  seen  crossing,  even 
Lunsford's  horse,  who  had  shown  fight  at  first,  turned  and  fled. 
Such  was  the  fight  of  Newburn.  It  was  the  fight  to  which 
Milton  refers  as  that  in  which  "  the  royal  forces  were  routed 
at  the  first  conflict,"  and  which  decided  the  Second  Bishops' 
War.  About  a  dozen  men  only  were  slain  on  the  side  of  the 
Scots,  while  the  loss  of  the  English  amounted  to  about  sixty 
slain,  with  some  prisoners,  whom  the  Scots  afterwards  released 
without  condition.  Small  as  the  loss  was,  the  panic  must 
have  been  great ;  for,  that  same  night,  Con  way,  feeling  himself 
unable  to  continue  in  Newcastle,  began  to  retreat  towards 
Durham.  On  the  following  day  (Saturday,  August  29)  the 
Scots  were  in  Newcastle.1 

Why  such  a  poor  affair  as  the  fight  of  Newburn,  followed 
even  by  the  taking  of  Newcastle,  should  have  concluded  the 
war,  does  not  very  well  appear.  Such,  however,  was  the  fact. 
It  was,  doubtless,  on  the  King's  side,  a  moral  rather  than 
merely  a  military  collapse.  For  a  moment  the  result  was  but 
a  blaze  of  indignation  against  Conway  for  having  permitted 
the  war  to  begin  with  a  shameful  disaster ;  and  Strafford  and 
the  King,  who  had  advanced  from  York,  the  one  as  far  as 
Darlington  and  the  other  to  Northallerton,  with  the  intention 
of  joining  Conway  at  Newcastle,  thought  of  the  possibility  of 
retrieving  the  disaster.  But,  whether  from  the  hopeless 
state  of  the  English  forces,  or  from  a  just  diffidence  on 
Stratford's  part  in  his  powers  of  strategy  as  compared  with 
Leslie's,  the  thought  of  farther  immediate  action  was  aban- 
don, •<!,  and  it  was  resolved  (August  30)  to  leave  Northum- 
berland and  Durham  to  the  mercy  of  the  Scots,  and  to  with- 
draw all  the  King's  forces  to  York.  Accordingly,  the  Scots, 
spreading  themselves  over  the  whole  coal  region,  took  posses- 
sion of  Durham,  Tyneinouth,  Shields,  and  other  places,  in 

hworth.   III.   lirjl  and  1236-9;       worth  and  Baillio  were  near  the  spot, 
and  Baillio,  I.  256,  257.     Both  Rush-       but  I  have  chiefly  followed  Ru*hw..rth. 


142  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

addition  to  Newcastle.  "  If  the  English  will  now  be  beasts 
"  and  dastardly  cowards,"  writes  Baillie  at  Newcastle,  where 
he  then  was,  with  Henderson  and  other  Scottish  preachers, 
"  they  must  lie  without  any  man's  pity  under  their  slavish 
"  servitude  for  ever.  We  put  little  doubt  but  we  shall  get  for 
"  ourselves  fair  enough  conditions,  but  it  will  be  to  our  great 
"  regret  if  we  get  not  all  the  King's  dominions  to  our  happi- 
"  ness."  l  Baillie  might  have  expressed  it  a  little  more  deli- 
cately, but  this  was  the  feeling  of  the  whole  Scottish  army. 

CALLING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

The  English  themselves  were  of  the  same  mind.  This 
occupation  of  the  North  of  England  by  the  Scots  was  the 
very  opportunity  for  which  the  Puritans  of  England,  and 
some  who  were  not  Puritans,  had  been  waiting  and  longing, 
and  which  some  of  the  more  daring  among  them  had  even 
been  helping  to  bring  about.  If  Charles  did  not  know  this 
before,  the  evidence  of  it  came  fast  in  upon  him  at  York. 
There  happened  to  him  there,  for  example,  that  which  but  a 
few  days  before  would  have  seemed  impossible.  This  was  a 
petition  for  the  immediate  assembling  of  a  Parliament.  It 
was  not  a  petition  flung  anonymously  into  his  chamber :  it 
was  a  petition  deliberately  presented,  and  signed  with  the 
names  of  the  Earls  of  Bedford,  Essex,  Hertford,  Mulgrave, 
Warwick,  Bolingbroke,  Lincoln,  Eutland,  and  Exeter,  of 
Viscounts  Saye  and  Sele  and  Mandeville,  and  of  Lords  Brooke, 
Hertford,  North,  Willoughby,  Savile,  Wharton,  and  Lovelace. 
A  petition  to  the  same  effect  from  the  City  of  London,  sent 
despite  the  opposition  of  the  portion  of  the  Privy  Council 
that  had  been  left  in  town,  showed  what  feelings  had  been 
roused  among  the  Londoners  by  the  news  from  the  North. 
In  short,  with  all  England  astir  behind  him,  with  the  York- 
shire gentry  immediately  around  him  out  of  humour,  with 
but  the  ruin  of  an  army  left  him  and  that  rapidly  de- 
serting, with  the  Scots  watching  for  his  next  resolution, 

i  Baillie,  I.  258  ;  Rushworth,  III.  S.  P.  0.,  particularly  one  of  Colonel 
1239  et  seq.  ;  and  Conway  Letters  in  Arthur  Aston,  dated  "  York,  Aug.  29. " 


1639-40.] 


CALLING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 


14:; 


and  with  news  coming  from  Scotland  of  the  surrender  or  ap- 
proaching surrender  of  the  few  castles  there  that  had  held  out 
for  him,  Charles  had  no  choice  but  to  yield.  This  yielding,  as 
was  his  way,  was  by  inches.  First,  on  the  5th  of  September, 
in  answer  to  one  of  the  wonted  humble  supplications  from  the 
Scots,  dated  this  time  from  "  Our  Leager  at  Newcastle,"  he 
required  them  to  advance  no  farther  into  England,  but 
announced  that  he  had  summoned  a  Great  Council  of  the 
English  Peers  to  meet  him  at  York  on  the  24th  of  September. 
His  wish  was  still,  if  possible,  to  avoid  a  Parliament,  and  to 
make  this  "  Great  Council  of  Peers  "  serve  in  its  stead.  But, 
finding  that  this  would  not  in  the  least  satisfy  his  English 
subjects,  he  made  the  last  reluctant  concession,  and,  before 
the  Great  Council  met,  had  issued  orders  for  the  assembling 
of  a  Parliament  also,  to  meet  at  Westminster  on  the  3rd 
of  November.  Accordingly,  when  the  Great  Council  did 
meet,  its  real  business  was  little  more  than  to  make 
the  arrangements  immediately  necessary  for  a  treaty  with 
the  Scots.  For  this  purpose  there  were  appointed,  from 
among  the  English  lords,  a  commission  of  sixteen  likely 
to  be  acceptable  to  the  Scots:  to  wit,  the  Earls  of  Bed- 
ford, Hertford,  Essex,  Salisbury,  Warwick,  Bristol,  Holland, 
and  Berkshire,  the  Viscount  Mandeville,  and  Lords  Wharton, 
Paget,  Brooke,  Paulet,  Howard  of  Escrick,  Savile,  and 
Dunsmore.  These  were  to  negotiate  on  the  English  side. 
Appointed  to  meet  them  on  the  Scottish  side  were  the  Earls 
of  Rothes  and  Dunfermline,  Lord  Loudoun,  Sir  Patrick  Hep- 
burn, Sir  William  Douglas,  Drummond  of  Riccarton,  Bailie 
Smith  of  Edinburgh,  and  Burgesses  Wedderburn  of  Dundee 
and  Kennedy  of  Ayr,  all  members  of  the  Committee  of 
Estates ;  with  whom  were  associated,  by  special  designation, 
Alexander  Henderson  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston.  The 
negotiation  was  first  carried  on  at  Ripon.  There,  by  the  1 6th 
of  October,  thirteen  preliminary  articles  had  been  agreed 
upon,  one  of  which  bound  the  English  to  maintain  the 
Scottish  army,  at  the  rate  of  850/.  a  day,  until  such  time  as 
the  Treaty  should  be  complete  and  the  Scots  at  liberty  to 
1-W  this  conclusion,  however,  neither  party  was  in 


144  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

any  hurry.  The  Scots  felt  no  security  in  a  peace  till  matters  • 
had  been  pushed  a  little  farther  in  England  ;  and  the  English 
lords  (between  some  of  whom  and  the  Scots  there  was 
now  a  perfect  understanding)  had  not  yet  obtained  for  their 
countrymen  the  full  benefit  of  the  Scottish  army's  presence 
on  English  soil.  Eeluctantly,  therefore,  the  King  gave  his 
consent  to  the  transference  of  the  negotiations,  first  from 
Eipon  to  York,  and  then  from  York  to  London.  It  having 
been  thus  agreed  to  adjourn  the  final  negotiations  to  London, 
and  the  preliminary  articles  having  been  signed  by  his 
Majesty  (Oct.  27),  the  Great  Council  broke  up  (Oct.  28), 
barely  in  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  English  Parliament  in 
the  following  week.1 

No  one  can  have  felt  more  bitterly  the  untoward  turn 
which  affairs  had  taken  than  poor  Laud.  All  this  time  he 
had  been  in  London,  conducting,  with  Juxon,  Finch,  Arundel, 
Cottington,  and  Windebank,  the  necessary  Privy  Council 
business  during  the  King's  absence.  Every  entry  in  his 
singular  Diary  from  the  time  of  the  King's  departure  to  that 
of  his  return  testifies  to  the  old  man's  restlessness  and 
anxiety.  Thus,  "  Aug.  2  2  :  A  vile  libel  brought  me,  found 
"  in  Covent  Garden,  animating  the  apprentices  and  soldiers 
"  to  fall  upon  me  in  the  King's  absence."  Again,  more  than 
once  in  September  and  October,  there  are  entries  of  what  he 
had  heard  the  Scots  were  threatening  against  him  in  the 
North,  or  riotous  Brownists  crying  out  against  him  in  the 
streets  of  London.  Lastly,  there  is  this  entry,  the  most 
characteristic  of  all,  on  the  day  when  the  King  was  signing 
the  articles  with  the  Scots  at  York:  "Oct.  27,  Tuesday, 
"  Simon  and  Jude's  Eve,  I  went  into  my  upper  study,  to  see 
"  some  manuscripts,  which  I  was  sending  to  Oxford.  In  that 
"  study  hung  my  picture,  taken  from  the  life ;  and,  coming 
"  in,  I  found  it  fallen  down  upon  the  face,  and  lying  on  the 
"  floor,  the  string  being  broken  by  which  it  was  hanged 
"  against  the  wall.  I  am  almost  every  day  threatened  with 

1  Rush  worth,  III.  1255  et  seq.  and  1286  appears    that    the    resolution    of    the 

— 1306  ;  Burnet's  Lives  of  the  Hamil-  King  for  a  Great  Council  of  the  Peers 

tons,  222—224  ;   Baillie,  263  ;   and  Pa-  was  formed  as  early  as  Aug.  31. 
pers  in  S.  P.  0. — from  one  of  which  it 


1639-40.]  CALLING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  145 

"  my  ruin  in  Parliament ;  God  grant  this  be  no  omen ! " 
There  is  also  in  the  State  Paper  Office  a  little  scrap  of 
writing,  in  Laud's  hand,  much  corrected,  erased,  and  inter- 
lined, which  it  is  very  touching  now  to  handle  and  to  read. 
It  is  a  draft  of  his  Archiepiscopal  prayer  for  the  opening  of 
the  new  Parliament,  and  is  as  follows : — 

"  O  jEternall  God  and  Mer.  Father,  as  it  hath  pleased  thee  to 
putt  his  Majestye's  hart  to  Assemble  a  Parlament  for  the  better 
settleinge  of  his  affaires  both  at  home  and  abroad,  soe  I  most 
humblye  beseech  thee  to  bless  this  great  Assemblye,  and  all  their 
counsells,  to  ye  good  both  of  the  Kinge  and  his  people.  And  to 
thiss  end,  Good  L : ,  give  the  Kinge  a  Hart  of  judgment  to  all  y* 
for  his  people  becomes  a  good,  a  gracious,  a  just,  a  pious,  and  a 
prudent  Kinge,  and  give  the  Parlament  a  hart  of  Dewtye  to  doe  all 
yl  towards  ye  Kinge  which  becomes  an  obedient,  a  Religious,  a 
moderate,  a  free,  and  a  wise  people :  That  the  K.  and  his  peo., 
meeting  with  these  affections,  maye  go  on  with  mutual  comfort  and 
contentment,  to  ye  great  honor  of  ye  Kinge,  ye  saftye  of  ye  King- 
dome,  and  ye  settlement  of  true  Religion,  to  the  finall  extirpation 
both  of  superstition  and  schisme,  and  ye  upholdinge  of  ye  true  and 
meere  worship  of  God  in  ye  land.  O,  L  :  grant  this,  even  for  Jesus 
Ch :  his  sake  :  Amen." 


VOL.  II 


BOOK  II. 

NOVEMBER  1640— AUGUST  1642. 

IfISTOftY:—FiEST  Two -AND -TWENTY  MONTHS  OF  THE  LONG 
PARLIAMENT. 

BIOGRA PR Y. •—  MILTON  IN  ALDERSGATE  STREET:   His  ANTI- 
EPISCOPAL  PAMPHLETS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

MEETING  OP  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT — ITS  COMPOSITION  AND  CHIEFS — 
NINE  MONTHS  OF  GENERAL  PARLIAMENTARY  ACTION  (NOV.  1640 
AUG.  1641) THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH  REFORM  MOVEMENT. 

ON  Tuesday  the  3rd  of  November  1640  the  Long  Parliament 
met  in  Westminster.  Imagination  can  yet  retrace  the  sites 
of  the  two  old  Houses  in  the  great  area  covered  by  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  present  edifices.  The  old  House  of  Lords 
was  a  building  at  the  south  end  of  Westminster  Hall, 
and  parallel  with  the  river.  The  old  Commons'  House,  St. 
Stephen's  Chapel,  was  a  long,  narrow  building  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  in  a  rich  ecclesiastical  style,  at  right  angles  to 
Westminster  Hall,  with  the  entrance  at  its  west  end,  where 
it  adjoined  the  Hall,  and  a  large  window  at  the  other  end. 
The  formalities  of  the  opening  of  the  Parliament  were  more 
sombre  than  usual  The  King,  having  no  heart  for  a  pro- 
cession through  the  streets,  went  in  his  barge  from  Whitehall 
to  Westminster  Stairs.  Thence,  about  one  o'clock,  accom- 
panied by  the  Lords,  who  had  joined  him  there,  he  went 
through  Westminster  Hall  to  the  Abbey  to  hear  a  sermon  from 
the  Bishop  of  Bristol ;  after  which,  having  come  to  the  Lords' 
House,  and  having  sent  for  the  Commons,  he  delivered  an 
opening  speech,  and  called  upon  Lord  Keeper  Finch  to  deliver 
another,  explaining  his  views  more  at  large.  The  Commons 
then  returned  to  their  own  House ;  where,  upon  the  motion 
of  Secretary  Sir  Henry  Vane,  the  leading  ministerial  member 
in  that  House,  they  unanimously  elected  for  their  Speaker 
William  Lenthall,  Esq.,  one  of  the  members  for  Woodstock. 
He  was  a  Lincoln's  Inn  barrister  of  some  small  note,  who  had 
been  selected  by  the  King  at  the  last  moment  for  the  Speaker- 


150  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

ship,  instead  of  a  more  eminent  lawyer  who  had  failed  to 
obtain  a  seat.  Already,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  day,  the 
Commons  had  gone  through  the  ceremony  of  hearing  the 
writ  for  the  Parliament  read,  and  the  names  of  the  members 
that  had  been  returned  called  over,  by  Thomas  Willys,  Esq., 
the  Clerk  of  the  Crown  in  Chancery.  His  deputy,  Agar, 
Milton's  brother-in-law,  may  have  been  in  attendance  upon 
him  on  such  an  occasion.  During  the  preceding  week  or 
two,  at  all  events,  Agar  and  his  subordinates  in  the  Crown 
Office  had  been  unusually  busy  with  the  issue  of  the  writs 
and  with  other  work  connected  with  the  opening  of  the  Parlia- 
ment.1 

COMPOSITION    OF    THE    TWO    HOUSES. 

The  reader  may  have  seen,  at  the  entrance  to  the  rooms  of 
some  Club  or  Society,  a  collection  of  photographs  of  its  more 
prominent  members  hung  up  in  one  frame.  The  following  is 
not  quite  such  a  frame  of  photographs,  but  it  may  serve  a 
similar  purpose.  It  may  be  glanced  through  now  for  some 
preliminary  general  impressions,  and  it  may  be  referred  to 
afterwards  on  occasion  : — 

I.  THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS. 

The  Peers  of  England  summoned  to  this  Parliament  were  150 
in  number  ; — to  wit,  26  Spiritual  Peers  (the  two  Archbishops  and 
24  Bishops)  ;  and  124  Temporal  Peers,  of  whom  one  (George 
Villiers,  2nd  Duke  of  Buckingham)  was  an  English  Duke,  one 
(John  Paulet,  5th  Marquis  of  Winchester)  was  an  English  Marquis, 
63  were  Earls,  5  were  Viscounts,  and  54  were  Barons.  The  following 
distribution  represents  the  House  at  the  time  of  its  assembling : — 

I.  The  Episcopal  Bench.  Although  two  Archbishops  had  been 
summoned,  the  death  of  Neile  of  York,  only  three  days  before  the 
Parliament  met,  left  LAUD  for  the  time  the  sole  Archbishop.  Of 
the  four-and-twenty  bishops  who  had  been  summoned  most  are 
already  known  to  us.  They  were  JUXON  of  London,  JOHN  OWEN  of 
St.  Asaph,  EGBERTS  of  Bangor,  PIERCE  of  Bath  and  Wells,  SKINNER 
of  Bristol,  DUPPA  of  Chichester,  MAINWARING  of  St.  David's, 
WREN  of  Ely,  HALL  of  Exeter,  GOODMAN  of  Gloucester,  COKE  of 
Hereford,  WRIGHT  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  WILLIAMS  of  Lincoln, 
MORGAN  OWEN  of  Llandaff,  MONTAGU  of  Norwich,  BANCROFT 
of  Oxford,  TOWERS  of  Peterborough,  WARNER  of  Rochester, 
DAVENANT  of  Salisbury,  CURLE  of  Winchester,  THORNBOROUGH  of 
i  Kushworth,  IV.  1, 


1640-41.]      THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  LORDS.  151 

Worcester,  POTTER  of  Carlisle,  BRIDGMAN  of  Chester,  and  MORTON 

of  Durham. Of  these  twenty-four,  however,  several,  from  age 

or  other  reasons,  never  took  their  seats ;  Mainwaring  refrained,  as 
being  under  the  ban  of  previous  Parliaments ;  and  three  died  very 
soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Parliament :  viz.  the  unpopular 
Bancroft  in  February  1640-41  ;  the  more  unpopular  Montagu 
on  the  13th  of  April  1641  ;  and  the  popular  and  Calvinistic 
Davenant  on  the  20th  of  April,  "of  a  consumption,"  says  his 
nephew  Fuller,  "to  which  the  sorrowful  times  did  contribute  not 
a  little."  As  the  vacant  sees  were  not  at  once  filled  up,  the 
Episcopal  strength  in  the  House,  when  the  work  was  becoming 
warm,  consisted  but  of  about  18  bishops.  Even  of  these  some,  like 
Laud  himself,  were  from  the  first  hors  de  combat,  as  persons  under 
trial.  After  Davenant's  death,  the  bishop  whose  antecedents  were 
likeliest  to  give  him  favour  with  the  public  was  Potter  of  Carlisle, 
who  was  called  the  "  Puritanical  bishop."  But,  though  he  attended 
Parliament  till  his  death,  Jan.  1641-2,  his  part  was  not  a  leading 
one.  Morton  of  Durham,  who  had  long  been  a  pillar  of  the  Church, 
and  by  no  means  a  Laudian,  was  now,  though  in  his  seventy- 
seventh  year,  to  come  forward  conspicuously.  Warner  of  Rochester, 
also,  who  had  been  a  bishop  only  since  1637,  and  was  twenty  years 
younger  than  Morton,  was  to  make  himself  heard.  Undoubtedly, 
however,  the  two  bishops  about  whose  conduct  in  the  Parlia- 
ment there  was  most  expectation,  after  the  Laudians  had  been 
placed  hors  de  combat,  were  Hall  of  Exeter  and  Williams  of 

Lincoln. Of   HALL   and    the   state   of    his   mind   we    have 

recently  had  a  glimpse.  His  Episcopacy  by  Divine  Right,  which 
had  been  in  circulation  eight  or  nine  months  when  the  Parlia- 
ment met,  had  not  improved  his  relations  with  the  Puritans.  But 
WILLIAMS?  For  this  irrepressible  Welshman,  who  has  already 
figured  so  much  in  these  pages,  the  calling  of  the  Long  Parliament 
was  to  be  a  resurrection  to  life.  Even  in  the  Tower  he  had  not 
held  his  tongue.  What  line  would  he  take  now  that  he  was  again 
at  liberty  and  in  Parliament  1  No  one  could  tell.  His  friend  Dr. 
Hacket,  indeed,  had  heard  him  say  in  the  Tower  that  he  had  no 
fancy  for  "  a  Scotch  Reformation  wherein  the  harebrains  would  be 
engaged  along  with  the  Scots."  But  it  was  not  easy  to  calculate 
upon  Williams.  For  the  Laudians  his  reappearance  was  like  the 
intimation  of  Richard's  return  to  King  John  in  Ivanhoe,  "The 
Devil  is  loose."  He  first  took  his  seat  in  the  Parliament  on  the 
16th  of  November.  He  was  then  fifty-seven  years  of  age.1 

i  Racket's  Life  of  Williams,  Part  II.  to  convict  of  mistake  a  letter  to  Con  way 

p.  137,  ftc.  ;  and  Lords  Journals,  Nov.  in  the  8.  P.  0.  of  date  May  4,  1640 

16,  1640,  where  it  is  distinctly  stated  (i.e.  the  day  before  the  dissolution  of 

that  Williams,  then  a  prisoner  in  the  the  Short  Parliament),  where  I  find  this 

Tower,  but  summoned  by  writ  to  the  passage:  "This  Monday  the  Bitthop  of 

hirliament  under  condition  of  bail  to  Lincoln    was    delivered    out    of    the 

the   King   to  return   to    prison  when  Tower:  the  same  evening  ho  wont  to 

Parliament  should   be  over,  was  that  Lambeth." 
day  sent  for  by  the  Lords.    This  seems 


152  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

II.  Lay  Ministerial  Peers.  Under  this  modern  designation  I 
include  all  the  lay-peers  who  were  of  the  Privy  Council  or  held 
great  state-offices.  With  Laud  and  Juxon,  they  represented  "Go- 
vernment," as  we  should  now  say,  in  the  Upper  House.  At  their 
head  was  STRAFFORD,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland  ;  next  after  whom 
may  be  named  FINCH,  the  Lord  Keeper  and  occupant  of  the  Wool- 
sack, the  MARQUIS  of  HAMILTON  (sitting  as  Earl  of  Cambridge),  and 
LORD  COTTINGTON,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  Master  of 
the  Court  of  Wards.  Other  ministers,  known  to  us  as  such  since 
1632,1  were  the  EARL  of  MANCHESTER,  Lord  Privy  Seal ;  the  EARL 
of  LINDSEY,  Lord  Great  Chamberlain  ;  the  EARL  of  ARUNDEL  and 
SURREY,  Earl  Marshal ;  the  EARL  of  PEMBROKE  and  MONTGOMERY, 
Lord  Chamberlain;  the  EARL  of  DORSET,  Lord  Chamberlain  to  the 
Queen ;  the  EARL  of  HOLLAND  ;  the  EARL  of  BRIDGEWATER,  Lord 
President  of  Wales;  the  EARL  of  SALISBURY;  the  EARL  of  SUF- 
FOLK ;  and  LORD  NEWBURGH.  Peers  who  had  been  added  to  the 
Council  since  1632  were  these  :  the  young  DUKE  of  LENNOX  (sitting 
as  an  English  Earl) ;  the  EARL  of  NORTHUMBERLAND,  Lord  High 
Admiral;  the  EARL  of  BERKSHIRE;  LORD  GORING,  Vice-Chamber- 
lain of  the  Household;  and  the  EARL  of  NEWCASTLE,  Governor  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales.  As  this  last  peer  is  the  only  one  of  whom 
we  have  not  had  occasion  to  take  some  account  already,  a  word  or 
two  about  him  may  be  here  added  : — Two  Cavendishes,  descendants 
of  Wolsey's  faithful  attendant  and  biographer,  had  been  raised,  in 
the  reign  of  James,  from  the  position  of  country -gentlemen  to 
English  peerages :  William  Cavendish,  made  Baron  Hardwick,  Co. 
Derby,  in  1605,  and  then  Earl  of  Devonshire  in  1618  ;  and  another 
William  Cavendish,  his  nephew,  who,  having  nobly  entertained 
James  at  his  seat  of  Welbeck  in  Nottinghamshire,  was  created 
Baron  Ogle  in  1619,  and  Viscount  Mansfield  in  the  following  year. 
This  second  Cavendish,  who  had  acquired  great  wealth  through  his 
marriage,  and  was  but  a  young  man  when  James  died,  was  created 
Earl  of  Newcastle  by  Charles  in  1628.  He  had  lived  through  the 
period  of  "  Thorough  "  with  a  great  reputation  for  loyalty  and  for 
splendid  hospitality  in  those  northern  parts  of  England  where  his 
estates  chiefly  lay.  An  entertainment  which  he  had  given  to 
Charles  at  Welbeck  on  his  coronation-journey  to  Scotland  in  1633, 
and  another  which  he  had  given  to  the  King  and  Queen  at  Bolsover 
Castle  in  1634,  were  remembered  as  the  costliest  things  of  the  kind 
ever  known,  and  have  left  some  trace  of  themselves  in  literary 
history  in  the  form  of  the  two  masques  written  for  them  by  Ben 
Jonson.  The  Earl  of  Newcastle,  indeed,  was  Ben's  principal 
patron  in  his  old  age,  and  Ben  had  not  failed  to  eulogize  the 
Earl's  accomplishments  in  verse,  particularly  his  fencing  and  his 
horsemanship.  He  was  also  "  amorous  in  poetry  and  music,"  says 
Clarendon,  "to  which  he  indulged  the  greatest  part  of  his  time." 
•Hence,  in  1638,  he  had  been  thought  the  fittest  person  to  be 
i  See  Vol.  I.  pp.  377—383. 


1640-41.]      THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  LORDS.  153 

appointed  Governor  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  then  eight  years  of 
age.  He  had  subscribed  handsomely  to  the  two  Scottish  wars,  and 
had  raised  a  magnificent  troop  of  horse,  composed  wholly  of  gentle- 
men of  property,  and  called  "  the  Prince  of  Wales's  own  troop." 
A  question  of  precedency  connected  with  this  troop  had  caused  a 
deadly  quarrel  between  him  and  the  Earl  of  Holland.  He  was  now 
forty-eight  years  of  age,  and  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters.1 

III.  General  Body  of  the  Peers.  A  few  of  this  body,  who  were 
either  already  conspicuous  before  the  Long  Parliament  met,  or  who 
were  to  become  conspicuous  in  its  proceedings,  may  be  here  enume- 
rated. The  ten  whom  we  place  first  were  the  Peers  who,  of  those 
that  were  expected  to  be  Parliamentary  leaders  of  the  popular  cause, 
most  amply  fulfilled  that  expectation;  the  others  follow  in  no 
particular  order : — 

FRANCIS  RUSSELL,  4th  EARL  of  BEDFORD.  This  nobleman,  Earl 
since  1627,  was  universally  regarded  as  the  chief  peer  of  the 
popular  party.  He  owed  that  distinction  partly  to  his  wealth  and 
his  popularity  in  connexion  with  a  great  work  for  the  draining  of 
the  Fen  Counties  which  had  been  going  on  since  1630,  but  in  part 
also  to  his  character  for  wisdom.  He  had  sheltered  many  of  the 
persecuted  Puritan  clergy;  and,  though  not  of  extreme  opinions, 
and  personally  on  good  enough  terms  with  Laud,  he  desired  a  more 
liberal  system  of  government  in  Church  as  well  as  in  State.  His 
town-house  was  Bedford  House,  north  of  the  Strand.  Unfortu- 
nately he  survived  the  opening  of  the  Parliament  only  six  months.2 

ROBERT  DEVEREUX,  3rd  EARL  of  ESSEX.  Already  known  to  us 
as  Lieut. -General  of  the  King's  forces  in  the  first  Scottish  war,  this 
nobleman,  now  aAat.  48,  could  look  back  upon  a  life  calculated  to 
make  any  man  grave  and  reserved.  Restored,  in  his  childhood,  by 
James  to  the  honours  of  his  beheaded  father,  Elizabeth's  cele- 
brated Essex,  he  had  been  educated  at  Eton  and  at  Oxford,  had 
been  a  companion  of  the  popular  Prince  Henry  "  in  his  books  and  the 
great-horse  exercise,"  and  had  travelled  abroad.  Returning,  in  his 
early  youth,  to  marry,  according  to  arrangement,  the  young  Frances 
Howard,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  he  had  experienced  a  fate 
which  had  made  him  the  pity  of  England.  There  was  the  loathing 
of  his  bride,  then  the  lover  of  the  King's  Scottish  favourite, 
Viscount  Rochester,  afterwards  Earl  of  Somerset;  there  was  the 
horrible  notoriety  of  the  proceedings  for  a  divorce ;  and  there  was 
the  divorce  itself  in  1613.  "  Perceiving  how  little  he  was  beholden 
to  Venus,"  he  had  gone  abroad  to  "  address  himself  to  the  Court  of 
Mars  "  ;  and  he  was  serving  in  the  Low  Countries  when  England  was 
again  ringing  with  the  name  of  his  divorced  wife,  then  on  her  trial, 
together  with  her  new  husband,  Somerset,  for  the  murder  of  Sir 
Thomas  Overbury.  He  remained  abroad  for  the  most  part  while 

1   Collina's     Peerage     by     Brydges  and  Life  by  Clifford, 

(under  Duke*  of  DevotuJnre) ;  Collina's  *  Collirwa    Peerage     by     Brydges; 

English   Baronage  (1727) ;  Clarendon,  Clarendon,  63,  73,  WJ. 
32,  50,  108,  &c.  ;  Ben  Jonaon's  Works, 


154  LIFE  OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

the  condemned  couple  were  in  prison ;  from  which  James  released 
them  in  1624.  It  was  while  he  was  serving  in  the  Palatinate  war 
that  he  became  imbued  with  those  Calvinistic  principles  which  he 
professed  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  After  his  return  he  had 
ventured  on  a  second  marriage  (1630-31),  with  the  daughter  of  a 
Wiltshire  knight.  This  marriage,  however,  was  speedily  followed 
by  a  separation  on  the  same  ground  that  had  been  pleaded  by  the 
first  wife.  Avoiding  the  Court  since  then,  he  had  lived  much  in 
the  country,  occupied  with  books  and  field-sports,  and  patronizing 
Quarles,  Wither,  and  other  Calvinistic  poets  ;  till  Charles,  hoping 
to  have  the  use  of  his  military  experience,  called  him  to  a  com- 
mand in  the  first  Scottish  war.  According  to  Clarendon,  his 
private  hatred  to  the  whole  Scottish  nation,  on  Somerset's  account, 
would  have  reconciled  him  to  such  a  post,  if  Charles  had  known 
how  to  treat  him.  But  Charles's  coldness,  in  contrast  with  the 
respect  shown  him  by  the  Scottish  leaders,  had  cured  him  of  any 
disposition  to  abet  the  King's  policy  ;  and,  before  the  opening  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  the  Scots,  as  well  as  the  English  Puritans,  had 
great  hopes  from  him.  Despite  the  nature  of  his  misfortunes,  no 
man  was  more  popular  or  more  respected.  He  was  somewhat 
"stern  and  solemn"  in  appearance,  but  "affable  and  gentle" 
enough ;  with  no  great  gift  of  eloquence,  but  of  superior  abilities. 
His  town-residence  was  Essex  House  in  the  Strand,  where  he  had 
been  born.  His  first  wife  had  died  in  1632,  but  Somerset  was  still 
alive.  An  only  daughter  of  the  criminal  pair  had  married  the  Earl 
of  Bedford's  eldest  son,  Lord  Russell.1 

ROBERT  RICH,  2nd  EARL  of  WARWICK.  Though  the  elder 
brother  of  Holland,  he  was  identified  with  the  popular  party. 
"A  man  of  pleasant  and  companionable  wit  and  conversation,  of 
an  universal  jollity,  and  such  a  licence  in  his  words  and  in  his 
actions  that  a  man  of  less  virtue  could  not  be  found  out " ;  yet 
in  such  high  credit  with  the  Puritans,  owing  to  his  liberality 
with  his  money,  and  "his  being  present  with  them  at  their  de- 
votions," as  to  have  obtained  "  the  style  of  a  godly  man "  :  such 
is  Clarendon's  character  of '  him.  Less  prejudiced  historians 
recognise  in  him  the  elements  of  "an  essentially  manly  character," 
with  something  of  the  sailor's  frankness  and  laxness,  his  profes- 
sion being  that  of  the  navy.  His  residence,  Warwick  House,  in 
Holborn,  was  a  rendezvous  for  distressed  Puritan  ministers.  He 
was  in  his  fifty-sixth  year.2 

OLIVER  ST.  JOHN,  1st  EARL  of  BOLINGBROKE.  Succeeding  his 
father,  in  1618,  as  4th  Lord  St.  John  of  Bletsho,  this  nobleman 
had  been  created  Earl  of  Bolingbroke  in  1624.  Decidedly,  though 
not  in  a  flashing  way,  he  was  of  the  liberal  party. 

1  Collins's  Peerage  by  Brydges,  under  2  Collins's  Peerage  by  Brydges,  IX. 

Devereux,     Vise.    Hereford ;    Brydges's  400 ;  Brydges's  Peers  of  James  I.  330 

Peers  of  James  I.  p.  96  et  seq.  ;  Wood's  — 333  ;  Clarendon,  374  ;  and  Sanford's 

Athense,  III.  189,  197  ;  and  Clarendon,  Studies  of  the  Great  Rebellion  (1858), 

57,  74,  191,  373,  444  &c.  p.  288. 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  LORDS.  155 

HENRY  GREY,  1st  EARL  of  STAMFORD.  The  branch  of  the 
ancient  and  much-ramified  family  of  the  Greys  of  which  this  peer 
was  representative  had  formerly  held  almost  the  highest  rank  in 
the  realm.  His  great-grandfather,  Lord  John  Grey,  had  been 
the  brother  of  that  Henry  Grey,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  and  finally 
Duke  of  Suffolk,  who  was  the  father  of  Lady  Jane  Grey.  On  the 
execution  of  his  brother,  which  followed  that  of  his  sister,  this 
Lord  John  Grey  had  become  the  head  of  the  family ;  but,  as  its 
honours  had  been  attainted,  he  transmitted  no  peerage.  His  son, 
however,  had  been  readmitted  to  the  peerage  by  James  (1603)  as 
Lord  Grey  of  Groby ;  and  his  grandson,  succeeding  him  in  1614, 
had  been  advanced  to  the  earldom  of  Stamford  in  1628.  It  was 
thought  that  "  this  partial  restoration  of  honours  very  little  satis- 
fied the  fallen  family  of  Grey  "  ;  and  on  some  such  vague  principle 
people  were  to  account  for  the  vehement  anti-royalism  both  of  the 
Earl  of  Stamford  and  of  his  son  Lord  Grey  of  Groby  in  the  Long 
Parliament  and  throughout  the  Civil  War.1 

WILLIAM  FIENNES,  1st  VISCOUNT  SAVE  AND  SELE.  Born  in  1583, 
of  a  family  the  heads  of  which  had  been  barons  since  the  Conquest, 
he  had  been  Viscount  since  1624.  He  was  a  Puritan  of  the  most 
pronounced  cast, — a  rarity,  in  this  respect,  among  the  English 
peers.  "Of  close  and  reserved  nature,"  "proud,  morose,  and 
sullen,"  "  of  a  mean  and  narrow  fortune,  of  great  parts,  and  of  the 
highest  ambition,"  "conversing  much  with  books,"  is  Clarendon's 
account  of  him ;  and  the  name  "  Old  Subtlety,"  given  him  by 
Anthony  Wood,  hits  off  well  the  general  impression  of  him  enter- 
tained by  his  opponents.  "  The  logicals  and  philosophical  "  had 
been  his  favourite  studies  at  Oxford,  and  for  astuteness  and  per- 
sistency of  intellect  he  was  thought  all  but  unmatched.  That  he 
was  bold  as  well  as  wary  had  been  proved  by  his  resisting  the 
ship-money  tax  at  the  same  time  as  Hampden,  and  subsequently 
by  his  positive  refusal  to  aid  in  the  war  against  the  Scots.  He  and 
Hampden  were  supposed  to  "  steer  all  the  designs  "  of  the  more  ad- 
vanced portion  of  the  Puritan  party ;  and  his  house  at  Broughton  in 
Oxfordshire  had  long  been  a  place  where  secret  meetings  were  held 
and  plots  hatched.  "  There  was,"  says  Wood,  "  a  room  there  where 
there  would  be  great  noises  and  talkings  heard,"  though  the  servants 
durst  not  go  near  it.  In  whatever  correspondence  there  had  been 
between  the  English  Puritans  and  the  Scottish  Covenanters  Saye  and 
Sele  had  been  a  principal.  He  was  now  fifty-seven  years  of  age.2 

EDWARD  MONTAGU,  LORD  KIMBOLTON.  Known  also  by  his 
courtesy-title  of  Viscount  Mandeville,  this  nobleman,  now  (ttat.  37, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  Lord  Privy  Seal. 
Educated  at  Sidney-Sussex  College,  Cambridge,  he  had,  from  his 
father's  position,  been  much  about  the  Court,  and  had  accompanied 

i  Collins'*  Peerage  by  Brydges,  III.       22  et  **/  ;  Wood's  Athena,  III.  516  et 
352-9  ;  and  Peers  of  Jamea  I.  83,  84.  «*?.  ;  Clarendon,  73  and  375. 

*  Collina'B  Peerage  by  Brydges,  VII. 


156  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Charles  to  Spain.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Commons  in 
Charles's  early  Parliaments,  but  had  been  raised  to  the  peerage,  as 
Lord  Kimbolton,  in  his  father's  life -time,  by  an  act  of  special 
favour.  This  honour  he  perhaps  owed  to  his  marriage  with  a  rela- 
tive of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham ;  but,  on  her  death,  he  had  married 
a  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  This  connexion  had  detached 
him  from  the  Court,  and  mixed  him  so  much  with  the  Puritans 
that  it  was  a  subject  for  gossip  how  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  the 
King's  minister,  could  have  two  sons  of  such  diverse  tendencies, — 
Mandeville  or  Kimbolton,  all  for  the  Puritans,  and  the  younger 
son,  Walter  Montagu,  a  Roman  Catholic  convert  and  fanatic. 
"  No  man,"  says  Clarendon,  speaking  of  Kimbolton,  "  was  more  in 
the  confidence  of  the  discontented  and  factious  party  than  he,  and 
none  to  whom  the  whole  mass  of  their  designs,  as  well  what 
remained  in  chaos  as  what  was  formed,  more  entirely  communi- 
cated." Being  of  free  and  generous  habits,  he  had  got  largely  into 
debt,  in  expectation  of  his  succession  to  his  father  ;  his  life  had  not 
been  by  any  means  "  conformable  to  the  rigour  of  his  party,"  if 
Clarendon  is  to  be  believed ;  but,  according  to  the  same  authority, 
he  was  of  such  real  goodness  of  disposition  that  nothing  could 
spoil  him,  and  of  such  urbanity  and  high  breeding  that  all  liked 
him.  His  town-house  was  in  Chelsea.1 

PHILIP,  4th  LORD  WHARTON.  This  young  nobleman,  cetat.  27, 
had  succeeded  to  the  title  in  his  boyhood,  and  had  manifested 
Puritan  opinions  since  he  had  had  any  to  manifest.  Much  was 
expected  of  him,  particularly  from  his  high  moral  qualities.2 

ROBERT  GREVILLE,  2nd  LORD  BROOKE.  Born  in  1607,  and 
therefore  now  cetat.  33,  this  nobleman  had  been  carefully  educated 
by  his  relative,  the  celebrated  philosophical  poet  and  politician, 
Fulke  Greville,  1st  Lord  Brooke,  whom  he  succeeded  in  1628. 
His  education,  and  his  marriage  with  Lady  Catherine  Russell, 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  had  determined  his  natural 
bias  towards  the  popular  side ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  Lord 
Saye  and  Sele,  there  was  no  peer  more  resolutely  opposed  to 
Charles's  arbitrary  policy  in  Church  and  State.  He  had  even 
purposed  to  emigrate  to  New  England  with  Saye  and  Sele ;  and  he 
had  stood  by  Saye  and  Sele  in  the  protest  against  the  Scottish  war. 
In  reach  and  depth  of  intellect  he  was  considered  equal  to  "  Old 
Subtlety  "  himself,  while  he  had  more  fervour  and  enthusiasm.3 

EDWARD,  LORD  HOWARD  of  ESCRICK.  He  was  a  younger  son  of 
Thomas,  1st  Earl  of  Suffolk,  and,  in  the  time  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham's  ascendency,  had  married  a  niece  of  his,  and  had,  in 
consequence,  been  made  a  baron  in  his  own  right  (1628).  "But, 
"  that  dependence  being  at  an  end,  his  wife  dead,  and  he  without 
"  any  virtue  to  promote  himself,"  says  Clarendon,  "  he  withdrew 

1  Collins's  Peerage  by  Brydges,   II.       Kebellion,  289,  290. 

57  et  seq.  ;  and  Clarendon,  73,  74,  and  3  Collins's  Peerage  by  Brydges,  IV. 

374.  351  et  seq.  ;  Sanford,  p.  290 ;  and  Wal- 

2  Sanford 's    Studies    of    the    Great       pole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors. 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  LORDS.  15V 

"  himself  from  following  the  Court,  and,  shortly  after,  from  wish- 
"  ing  it  well,  and  had  now  delivered  himself  up,  body  and  soul,  to 
"  be  disposed  of  by  that  party  which  appeared  most  adverse  and 
"  obnoxious  to  the  Court  and  the  Government." l 

JOHN  DIOBY,  1st  EARL  of  BRISTOL.  The  antecedents  of  this 
nobleman,  now  cetat.  60,  were  such  that  almost  necessarily  he  took, 
at  the  opening  of  the  Long  Parliament,  a  front  rank  in  the  oppo- 
sition. It  was  fourteen  years  since  he  had  been  foiled  in  his  trial  of 
strength  with  Buckingham,  and  disgraced  by  Charles  for  alleged 
misconduct  in  his  Spanish  embassy;  and  now  he  had  the  oppor- 
tunity for  revenge.  For  a  time,  but  only  for  a  time,  he  seemed 
inclined  to  use  it.  According  to  Clarendon,  he  was  a  man  of  grave 
aspect  and  real  ability,  but  self-willed  and  supercilious,  and  too 
"  voluminous  "  in  his  talk.2 

WILLIAM  SEYMOUR,  llth  EARL  of  HERTFORD.  Neither  had  this 
nobleman,  now  between  fifty  and  sixty  years  of  age,  much  reason  to 
take  part  with  the  Court.  The  romantic  story  of  his  youth  was  in 
the  memory  of  all.  It  was  remembered  how,  when  only  Mr.  William 
Seymour,  2nd  son  of  Lord  Beauchamp,  he  had  secretly  married  the 
Lady  Arabella  Stuart,  the  cousin  of  King  James;  how,  on  the 
discovery  of  the  marriage,  he  had  been  placed  in  the  Tower  and  the 
lady  in  private  custody ;  how  in  1611  the  two  lovers  planned  a 
simultaneous  escape  to  the  Continent;  how,  the  vessel  in  which 
Lady  Arabella  was  having  been  captured,  she  was  retaken  and 
imprisoned  in  the  Tower  which  he  had  just  left ;  and  how,  while 
he  lived  abroad  disconsolate,  the  poor  imprisoned  lady  became 
insane  and  died.  Permitted  then  to  return  to  England,  and 
becoming,  by  the  deaths  of  his  elder  brother  and  his  father,  heir  to 
the  earldom  of  Hertford,  he  had  married,  for  his  second  wife,  a 
sister  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  had  lived  habitually  in  the  country ; 
a  nobleman  of  "  great  fortune,  honour,  and  interest,"  says  Clarendon, 
"  of  very  good  parts  and  conversant  in  books,  both  in  the  Latin 
and  Greek  languages,"  but  wholly  given  up  to  ease  and  indolence. 
The  events  of  1639-40  had  brought  him  out  a  little.  He  had  been 
one  of  the  liberal  lords  who  petitioned  Charles  at  York  for  a 
Parliament,  and  he  was  also  one  of  the  Commissioners  for  the 
Scottish  treaty.  It  was  fully  expected  that  he  would  act  in  the 
opposition  along  with  his  brother-in-law,  Essex,  for  whom  he  had  a 
great  regard.3 

THOMAS  WRIOTHESLEY,  EARL  of  SOUTHAMPTON.  This  peer,  now 
cetat.  31,  was  the  son  of  Shakespeare's  Earl  of  Southampton,  to 
whom  the  Venus  and  Adonis  and  Lucrece  had  been  dedicated.  He 
had  succeeded  his  father  in  1624.  "A  great  man  in  all  respects," 
"  of  a  nature  much  inclined  to  melancholy,"  says  Clarendon  of  him, 
adding  that  he  was  a  ready  and  weighty  speaker  in  any  sudden 
debate.  As  "  he  had  never  had  any  conversation  in  the  Court,  or 

»  Clarendon,  Hint.  119.  *  Peer*  of  Jame«  I.  pp.  800—307 

«  Collina,  V.  362 ;  Clarendon,  370.       and  Clarendon,  170,  171,  369. 


158  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

obligation  to  it,  but,  on  the  contrary,  had  undergone  some  hardship 
from  it,"  it  was  anticipated  that  he  would  be  in  the  opposition ; 
but,  though  he  had  strong  opinions  as  to  the  illegality  of  much  that 
Charles  and  Strafford  had  done,  Charles  was  to  find  in  him  ere 
long  one  of  his  truest  friends.1 

WILLIAM  CAVENDISH,  3rd  EAKL  of  DEVONSHIRE.  This  young 
peer,  now  cetat.  22,  had  succeeded  his  father  in  1628 ;  shortly  after 
which  his  mother  had  sent  him  abroad  under  the  tutorship  of  Thomas 
Hobbes,  who  had  been  his  father's  tutor  twenty  years  before,  and 
had  ever  since  been  attached  to  the  family.  He  had  returned  from  his 
travels  with  Hobbes  in  1637-8,  to  enter  on  the  duties  of  his  rank.2 

PHILIP  DORMER,  1st  EARL  of  CARNARVON.  Hitherto  occupied 
chiefly  with  "  those  looser  exercises  of  pleasure,  hunting,  hawking, 
and  the  like,  in  which  the  nobility  of  that  time  too  much  de- 
lighted," this  nobleman  had  a  certain  force  of  character  and 
capacity  which  was  to  show  itself  in  the  King's  cause.3 

JAMES  STANLEY,  LORD  STRANGE  (afterwards  7th  Earl  of  Derby). 
The  son  and  heir  of  William,  6th  Earl  of  Derby,  this  nobleman  had 
been  a  peer  in  his  own  right,  as  Baron  Strange,  since  1628,  and,  by 
reason  of  his  father's  age  and  infirmities,  Earl  of  Derby  in  all  but 
the  name  since  1637,  when  the  management  of  the  family-estates 
had  been  made  over  to  him.  The  acquisition  and  settlement  of 
these  estates,  through  a  series  of  complicated  lawsuits,  in  which  the 
Countess -Dowager  Derby  of  the  Arcades  and  her  daughters  had 
borne  a  part,  had  been  no  small  part  of  the  business  of  the  6th 
Earl's  life ;  but  all  had  at  length  been  arranged,  and  not  only 
the  ancient  seats  of  Latham  and  Knowsley,  with  vast  lands  in 
Lancashire,  Cumberland,  Cheshire  and  Yorkshire,  but  also  the 
lordship  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  held  by  former  Earls  of  Derby  as 
"Kings  of  Man,"  were  now  the  property  of  the  earldom,  and 
consequently  of  Lord  Strange.  He  was  a  man,  according  to 
Clarendon,  of  "great  honour  and  clear  courage,"  only  too  haughty 
and  imperious,  from  having  lived  too  little  amongst  equals.  His 
wife,  a  fit  match  for  such  a  spirit,  was  Charlotte  de  la  Tremouille, 
daughter  of  Claude  de  la  Tremouille,  duke  of  Thouars,  peer  of 
France,  by  his  wife  Charlotte,  daughter  of  William  I.  of  Orange 
and  Charlotte  of  Bourbon.  Both  the  husband  and  the  wife  were 
to  be  known  by  their  brave  deeds  for  Charles.4 

Among  the  other  peers  may  be  noted  EDWARD  SHEFFIELD,  1st 
EARL  of  MULGRAVE  (an  aged  peer  who  had  been  in  service  in 
Elizabeth's  reign) ;  THEOPHILUS  DE  CLINTON,  9th  EARL  of  LINCOLN 
(whose  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Viscount  Saye  and  Sele) ;  GEORGE 
MANNERS,  8th  EARL  of  RUTLAND  (who  lived  but  to  March  1641-2) ; 
THOMAS  LEIGH,  1st  LORD  DUNSMORE  (father-in-law  of  the  Earl  of 
Southampton);  WILLIAM  PAGET,  5th  LORD  PAGET;  and  THOMAS 

1  Peers   of   James   I.    326-7  ;    and  3  Nicolas's  Hist.  Peerage  ;  and  Clar. 
Clarendon,  369-70.                                         430. 

2  Collins's  Peerage  by  Brydges.  4  Collins's  Peerage  ;  and  Clar.  766. 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.       159 

SVVILE,  1st  LORD  SAVILE  of  POMFRET  (an  enemy  of  Strafford  for 
family  reasons).  All  these  had  signed  the  York  petition  for  the 
Parliament  They  therefore  at  least  began  in  the  Parliament  as 
"liberals."  To  be  known  more  or  less  on  the  one  side  or  the 
other  were  also  these  :  ROBERT  PIERREPOINT,  1st  EARL  of  KINGSTON 
(related  to  the  Cavendishes  of  Newcastle  and  Devonshire) ;  SPENCER 
COMPTON,  2nd  EARL  of  NORTHAMPTON  (cetat.  39) ;  HENRY  BOUCHIER, 
5th  EARL  of  BATH  ;  JOHN  HOLLES,  3rd  EARL  of  CLARE  (brother- 
in-law  of  Strafford);  THOMAS  BELLASIS,  1st  LORD  FAUCONBERG 
(cetat.  63) ;  and  WILLIAM  GREY,  1st  LORD  GREY  of  WARE. 

II.  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 

In  Rushworth's  list  of  the  original  members  of  the  Commons' 
House  in  the  Long  Parliament  their  number  is  given  as  exactly 
500.  Of  these  91  were  members  for  counties,  405  were  members 
for  boroughs  (London  returning  4  members),  and  4  were  members 
for  the  two  Universities.1 

I.  Ministerial  Members.     Most  of  the  King's  ministers  or  Privy 
Councillors  were  in  the  Upper  House ;  but  there  were  several  in 
the  Commons.     Chief  of  these  were  the  two  Secretaries  of  State,— 
SIR  FRANCIS  WINDEBANK  (one  of  the  members  for  Corfe  Castle), 
and  SIR  HENRY  VANE  (one  of  the  members  for  Wilton).     Winde- 
bank  was  faithful  to  the  King  and  Laud ;   but  Vane   had  been 
veering  round  in  the  last  Scottish  war,  and  had  been  one  of  the 
petitioners  for  a  Parliament.     Mr.  EDWARD  NICHOLAS,  one  of  the 
clerks  of  the  Council  (member  for  Newton,  Hants),  may  be  likewise 
mentioned   as  a   ministerial   member.      The   only  other   properly 
ministerial   members   of   the   House  were   SIR   THOMAS  JERMYN, 
Comptroller  of  the  Household  (one  of  the  members  for  Bury  St.  Ed- 
mund's), SIR  EDWARD  LITTLETON,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas 
(one  of  the  members  for  Staffordshire),  and  SIR  EDWARD  HERBERT, 
Solicitor-General  (one  of  the  members  for  Old  Sarum).     SIR  JOHN 
BANKS,  the  Attorney-General,  was  not  a  member  of  the  Commons, 
but  sat  by  writ  in  the  Upper  House,  attending  the  Lord  Keeper. 

II.  General  Body  of  the  Members.     It  ought  distinctly  to  be 
understood  that  the  members  of  the  Commons'  House  in  this  most 
revolutionary,  as  it  was  to  prove,  of  English  Parliaments,  were  not, 

>  Rushworth,  IV.  1—11.     From  the  From  this  lost  list  it  appears  (unless 

changes  that  happened  in  the  Long  I  have  erred  in  the  troublesome  task 

Parliament  from  time  to  time,  it  is  difli-  of  counting   through    thirty   columns 

cult  in  some  cases  to  determine  who  of  names,  and  omitting  always  those 

were  mem  bora  at  any  one  time.     Mr.  marked  t)  that  the  roll  of  the  House. 

Carlyle   gives  an   elaborated    list   for  when    formally    complete,    contained 

the  whole  duration  of  the  Parliament  508  members.     It  was  not  till  some 

(Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  edit.  little  time  after  the  first  day  of  rnoet- 

1857,  Appendix  to  Vol.  II.) ;  Mr.  San-  ing  that  the  House  was  thus  perfectly 

ford  jfives  another  (Studies  of  the  Great  constituted.    There  had  to  bo  fresh  oloc- 

Rebellion,  270 — 282) ;   and   there  is  a  tions  in  certain  counties  and  boroughs, 

v.-ry   full   and    instructive  list  in  the  —the  first  elections  having  boon  do- 

1'arliaraentary  History,   II.  599—629.  clared  void  for  this  or  that  reason. 


160  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

as  is  often  supposed  by  persons  ignorant  of  History,  a  mere  col- 
lection of  political  adventurers  from  all  the  ends  of  society.  They 
were  the  very  flower  of  the  English  gentry  and  the  English  legal 
profession.  Some  of  them  were  peers'  sons ;  many  of  them  were 
knights  or  baronets  ;  almost  all  of  them  were  men  of  estate  and 
education ;  and  very  few  of  them  were  of  the  class  that  would  now 
be  called  commercial.  Farther,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that,  if  they 
were  not,  on  the  average  of  their  whole  number,  superior  intel- 
lectually to  a  modern  House  of  Commons,  they  formed  collectively 
a  larger  proportion  of  the  best  intellect  of  the  country  than  is 
looked  for  now  in  a  House  of  Commons.  Now-a-days,  when  the 
talent  of  the  country  is  so  multiform,  and  may  be  absorbed  in  a 
thousand  occupations  unconnected  with  Parliament,  it  is  but  a 
small  proportion  of  it  that  comes  within  the  walls  of  St.  Stephen's. 
Perhaps  also,  now-a-days,  it  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  nature 
of  Parliamentary  business  that  a  very  moderate  proportion  of  the 
total  talent  of  the  country,  and  that  proportion  working  at  but 
a  moderate  pitch  of  intensity,  suffices  for  the  performance  of  the 
business.  The  exceptions  will  be  in  times  of  great  national 
exigency,  when  there  may  be  a  rush  of  the  very  best  minds  to 
the  rescue.  But  in  those  days  not  only  could  a  larger  relative 
proportion  of  the  energy  and  talent  of  England  be  within  Par- 
liament, and  not  only  were  more  of  the  interests  of  English  life 
locked  up  in  the  procedure  of  Parliament,  but  the  nature  of  the 
Parliamentary  work  in  hand  roused  the  energy  and  talent  engaged 
in  it  to  a  higher  state  of  tension.  It  was  then,  to  a  great  extent,  a 
work  of  life  and  death.  The  policy  a  man  pursued  in  Parliament, 
the  votes  he  gave  in  it,  might  lead,  as  he  knew,  to  his  imprison- 
ment, the  ruin  of  his  family,  or  even  his  death  on  the  scaffold  in 
some  hour  of  retribution.  In  our  changed  times  we  have  almost 
lost  the  power  of  estimating,  by  any  experience  of  our  own,  the 
effect  of  this  sense  of  actual  life-and-death  risk  upon  a  politician's 

public  conduct. With    these  remarks,   let  us  proceed  to 

glance  at  the  heads  that  were  to  be  the  most  remarkable,  in  one 
way  or  another,  among  the  five  hundred  that  assembled  in  St. 
Stephen's  in  November  1640.  Very  many  of  them,  it  may  be 
added,  were  not  there  for  the  first  time,  but  had  been  in  the  Short 
Parliament  of  the  same  year,  or  in  Charles's  earlier  Parliaments,  or 
in  some  of  the  Parliaments  of  James. 

JOHN  PYM  (Tavistock),1  cetat.  56.  Beyond  all  question  this  is  the 
name  that  ought  to  stand  first  in  the  present  list.  Pym's  fame, 
indeed,  was  not  now  to  make.  He  had  served  in  the  last  Parlia- 
ment of  James,  and  in  all  Charles's,  and  with  such  energy  that, 
since  Eliot's  death,  the  leadership  of  the  popular  cause  had  been 
universally  assigned  to  him.  Not  sleeping,  but  on  the  watch, 
through  the  weary  years  of  "  Thorough,"  he  had  resumed  his  proper 

1  There  were  two  members  for  this  here,  and  in  the  following  paragraphs, 
borough,  as  for  almost  all  boroughs  and  insert  simply  the  name  of  borough  or 
shires ;  but,  to  avoid  repetition,  I  county. 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT  :    HOUSE  OK  COMMONS.       161 

place  in  the  Short  Parliament  as  the  orator  of  the  opposition  ;  and, 
in  the  intervening  months,  he  had  been  consulting  with  Bedford, 
Saye  and  Sele,  Mandeville  and  others,  corresponding  with  the 
Scottish  leaders,  and  stirring  up  the  citizens  of  London  to  their 
petition  for  another  Parliament.  This  petition  he  had  himself 
carried  to  York.  So  entirely  did  he  rule  the  House  now  assembled 
that  he  came  to  be  called  "  King  Pym  "  by  the  courtiers.  Claren- 
don's testimony  is  that  not  only  had  he  "  the  greatest  influence  in 
the  House  of  any  man,"  but  he  was  "the  most  popular  man  and 
the  ablest  to  do  hurt  "  that  had  ever  been  in  an  English  Parliament. 
"  He  had,"  says  the  same  authority,  "  a  comely  and  grave  way  of 
expressing  himself,  with  great  volubility  of  words,  natural  and 
proper";  to  which  I  may  add,  on  the  faith  of  his  preserved 
speeches,  that  the  characteristic  of  his  eloquence  was  earnest  and 
business-like  impressiveness  rather  than  brilliance.  In  the  best 
portrait  I  have  seen  of  him  (after  a  miniature  by  Cooj)er)  there  is  a 
calm  English  massiveness  of  head  and  face,  with  something  of  a 
settled  seriousness,  verging  on  sorrow.  He  had  vowed  to  break 
the  neck  of  the  oppression  on  his  country.  He  had  also  fixed  ideas 
as  to  the  means.  His  leading  principle,  —  and  it  marks  his  exact 
place  in  the  Revolution,  —  was  that  of  the  necessity  of  establishing 
the  supremacy  and  inviolability  of  Parliament.  In  respect  of  the 
immediate  changes  to  be  striven  for  in  Church  and  State,  he  was, 
though  perhaps  in  advance  of  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  by  no  means 
of  "  furious  dispositions."  Somersetshire  has  the  honour  of  having 
produced  Pym,  and  he  had  been  educated  at  Oxford.  He  had  been 
a  widower  since  1620.  One  of  his  sons  had  been  with  him  in  the 
Short  Parliament,  and  another  was  to  be  in  the  Long  Parliament 
after  his  father's  death.  Till  the  meeting  of  Parliament  Pym's 
usual  town-lodging  had  been  in  Gray's  Inn  Lane  ;  but  he  had  re- 
moved to  "a  lodging  at  Sir  Richard  Manley's  house  in  a  little 
court  behind  Westminster  Hall."  Here  Hampden  and  others  met 
daily  to  consult  with  him  at  a  table  kept  at  their  joint  expense.1 

JOHN  HAMPDEN  (co.  Bucks),  cetat.  46.  By  birth  a  very  wealthy 
gentleman  of  Buckinghamshire,  and  a  cousin  of  Oliver  Cromwell, 
Hampden,  like  Pym,  brought  with  him  the  experience  of  former 
Parliaments,  and  a  reputation  for  patriotism  acquired  in  them.  He 
had  been  an  especial  friend  of  Eliot,  whose  two  sons  he  took  charge 
of  during  their  father's  fatal  imprisonment.  During  the  period 
of  "  Thorough  "  he  had  lived  mainly  in  retirement  ;  and  what 
remains  of  his  corresi>ondence  during  this  period  reveals  a  character 
of  unusual  piety,  conscientiousness,  gentleness,  and  self-command, 
with  a  certain  graceful  and  accomplished  suavity  of  phrase,  de- 
scribed by  Clarendon  as  "a  flowing  courtesy  to  all  men."  Beneath 
all,  however,  there  slept  an  English  courage,  and  a  depth  of  exhaust- 
less  machination  in  aid  of  that  courage.  He  came  forward  to  fight 

1  \VM,Hr.sAth.;n:i-.lll.7*J-80;('l:iron-       Memoir  of  Hamixlcn  (1854),  183d**/.; 
<l'.n'~  lli-t«.ry.  71,  :unl  171-.r>;  CUron-        Former's  Lifo  of  Pym  in  "BtatMOMO 
Life  (1759),  41  ;   I/ord   Nu^unt'H       of  the  Common  wealth." 


VOL.  II  M 


162  LIFE  OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

the  ship-money  battle  in  the  law-courts,  and  was  ready  to  spend  his 
whole  fortune  in  feeing  lawyers,  and  in  employing  against  the  Crown 
every  ingenuity  or  delay  of  the  law,  rather  than  pay  the  few  shillings 
demanded  of  him.  It  is  his  courage  that  is  now  thought  of  when 
we  speak  of  Hampden  ;  but  there  was  a  singular  agreement  among 
his  contemporaries,  both  friends  and  foes,  as  to  his  profound  crafti- 
ness as  well.  "  He  was  a  man,"  says  Clarendon,  "  of  much  greater 
"  cunning  [than  Pym]  and,  it  may  be,  of  the  most  discerning  spirit, 
"  and  of  the  greatest  address  to  bring  anything  to  pass  which  he 
"  desired,  of  any  man  of  that  time,  and  who  laid  the  design  deepest." 
He  did  not  speak  often,  Clarendon  continues,  and  hardly  ever  at 
the  beginning  of  a  question ;  but  he  was  a  very  weighty  speaker 
when  he  did  speak,  and  had  a  peculiar  art  of  coming  in  at  the  end 
of  a  debate  and  summing  up  so  as  to  turn  all  to  his  own  conclusion, 
or,  if  that  could  not  be,  getting  the  subject  postponed.  Also  he 
had  a  way  of  "infusing  his  own  opinions  into  those  from  whom  he 
pretended  to  learn,"  and  of  throwing  out  ideas  in  advance  of  the 
moment,  so  as  to  be  disintegrating  theoretically  ahead  of  the 
point  practically  reached.  "Of  an  industry  and  vigilance,"  adds 
Clarendon,  with  his  fondness  for  superlatives,  "not  to  be  tired 
"  out  by  the  most  laborious,  and  of  parts  not  to  be  imposed  on 
"  by  the  most  subtle  and  sharp,  and  of  a  personal  courage  equal  to 
"  his  best  parts  "  ;  and  again,  "  He  was  indeed  a  very  wise  man,  and 
"  of  great  parts,  and  possessed  with  the  most  absolute  spirit  of 
"  popularity  and  the  most  absolute  faculties  to  govern  the  people 
"  of  any  man  I  ever  knew."  Descriptions  from  other  pens  convey 
the  same  impressions  of  Hampden.  His  face,  in  the  only  authentic 
portrait  of  him,  is  very  fine,  firm  and  thoughtful,  with  a  deep 
Italian-looking  softness  in  it.  He  resided  in  Westminster,  to  be 
near  Pyrn ;  his  second  wife,  whom  he  had  recently  married,  being 
generally  in  town  with  him,  while  his  family  by  his  first  wife  were 
in  Bucks.1 

DENZIL  HOLLES  (Dorchester^  cetat.  43.  Second  son  of  the  late 
Earl  of  Clare  and  brother  of  the  present  Earl,  Holies  also  brought 
into  the  Parliament  a  reputation  earned  in  preceding  ones ;  more 
particularly  on  that  famous  occasion  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1628-9,  when  he  held  Speaker  Finch  in  the  chair  by 
main  force  while  the  House  passed  their  "  Three  Eesolutions  "  (see 
Vol.  I.  p.  216).  He  was  "as  much  valued  and  esteemed  by  the 
"  whole  party,"  says  Clarendon,  "as  any  man;  as  he  deserved  to 
"  be,  being  of  more  accomplished  parts  than  any  of  them."  He 
was  rather  hampered  now,  though  not  so  much  as  his  brother  the 
Earl,  by  the  fact  that  their  sister  had  been  Stafford's  first  wife,  and 
that  they  were  the  uncles  of  Strafford's  children.2 

SIR  PHILIP  STAPLETON,  KNT.  (Boroughbridge).  "A  proper  man, 
"  of  a  fair  extraction,"  so  Clarendon  introduces  him,  "  who,  being  a 

i  Wood's  Athen.  IV.  59— 62;  Claren-       Sir   Philip   Warwick's    Memoir    (edit, 
don,  55,  74,  119,  396 ;  Lord  Nugent's       1701),  p.  240. 
Memorials  of  Hampden  ;  Forster's  Life  ;          2  Collins  by  Brydges. 


1640-41.]      TIIK  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.        hi.11, 

"  branch  of  a  younger  family,  inherited  but  a  moderate  estate,  about 
"  500/.  the  year,  in  Yorkshire,  and,  according  to  the  custom  of  that 
*•  county,  had  spent  his  time  in  those  delights  which  horses  and  dogs 
"  administer."  But,  having  been  returned  to  the  Long  Parliament, 
he  in  a  short  time  "  appeared  a  man  of  vigour  in  body  and  mind, 
"  and  to  be  rather  without  good  breeding  than  not  capable  of  it"  l 

SIR  BENJAMIN  RUDYAKD,  KNT.  (Wilton),  ittat.  68.  This  veteran, 
who  had  served  in  many  Parliaments  before,  had  been,  in  his  younger 
days,  a  wit  and  courtier ;  and  his  name  is  associated  with  that  of 
Shakespeare's  Earl  of  Pembroke  in  a  volume  of  verses  composed 
between  them.  Ben  Jonson  had  also  addressed  epigrams  to  Rud- 
yard.  He  was  now  a  pious  and  reforming  politician.2 

WILLIAM  STRODE  (Beeralston,  co.  Devon).  There  is  some  dis- 
pute whether  this  was  the  Strode  who  figured,  along  with  Denzil 
Holies,  Eliot,  Selden,  Benjamin  Valentine,  William  Coriton,  and 
others,  in  the  famous  closing  scene  of  the  Parliament  of  1628-9, 
and  had  been  imprisoned  in  consequence.  He  is  described  as  "a 
young  man,"  and  can  hardly  have  been  that  elder  Strode.  At  all 
events  he  was  "  one  of  the  fiercest  men  of  his  party,"  according  to 
Clarendon.8 

OLIVER  ST.  JOHN  (Totness),  astat.  42.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Bed- 
fordshire knight,  related  to  the  Bolingbroke  family,  and  was  a 
Lincoln's  Inn  lawyer.  In  that  profession  he  had  won  immense 
celebrity  as  Hampden's  counsel  in  the  ship-money  case.  "He 
was,"  says  Clarendon,  "  a  man  reserved  and  of  a  dark  and  clouded 
countenance,  very  proud,  and  conversing  with  very  few,  and  these 
men  of  his  own  humour  and  inclinations."  In  allusion  to  his  gloomy 
looks  they  called  him  the  "dark-lantern  man"  of  the  Puritan 
party.  He  had  married,  for  his  second  wife,  a  cousin  of  Oliver 
Cromwell.4 

JOHN  SELDEN  (Oxford  University),  wtat.  56.  The  sketch  already 
given  of  this  great  scholar  and  keen  thinker  (Vol.  L  pp.  520 — 525) 
will  serve  for  our  cognisance  of  him  at  his  entry  into  the  Long  Par- 
liament His  was  certainly  one  of  the  weightiest  reputations  in 
the  House.  That  he  would  be  on  the  side  of  Reform  was  augured 
by  his  antecedents  in  former  Parliaments,  by  his  anti-clerical  spirit, 
and  by  the  motto  he  had  chosen,  "  Liberty  above  everything  " ;  but 
his  peculiar  interpretation  of  that  motto,  and  his  cool  and  sceptical 
temper,  were  to  lead  him  to  a  policy  rather  of  varying  criticism  of 
both  parties  than  of  thoroughgoing  devotion  to  either. 

NATHANIEL  FIENNES  (Banbury),  ntat.  32.  This  celebrated 
member,  the  second  son  of  Viscount  Saye  and  Sele,  was  regarded 
as  a  milder  edition  of  his  father, — equally  thoroughgoing  in  his 

1  Clarendon,  Ili-t.  119.  Members,"  198,  and  "Grand  Remon- 

«  Wood's  Athon.  III.  456  et  «cy.  strance,"  187—189.  Wood's  date,  1578, 

»  Wood's  Athon.  III.  176— 178;  Fore-  for  tho  birth  of  Mu  Strode,  must  bo 

ter's   Hint,  and    Biog.   Essays  (1868),  an  error. 

I.   20,  21  ;    Sanford's   Studies,  896-  *  Clarendon,  74,  75 ;  and  Carlyle'n 

400;   Forster's  "Arrest   of  the    Five  Crom well  (odit.  1857),  I.  77-79. 


164  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

Puritanism,  but  personally  more  prepossessing.  He  came  to  be 
called  "Young  Subtlety."  Educated  at  Winchester  and  Oxford, 
he  had  travelled  in  Switzerland  and  in  Scotland,  making  Calvinistic 
observations.  He  was  an  especial  companion  of  Hampden. 
"Broad  face,  bluntish  nose,  hair  brown  and  sleeked  over  the 
forehead,"  are  my  notes  from  a  portrait  of  him.1 

SIR  ARTHUR,  HASELRIG,  BART.  (co.  Leicester).  He  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  Fiennes  and  worked  with  him  in  Parliament.  He  had 
been  married  twice, — his  second  wife  being  a  sister  of  Lord  Brooke.2 
He  was  of  "  a  rude  and  stubborn  nature,"  according  to  Clarendon ; 
which  means  that  he  was  very  resolute  and  of  extreme  political 
opinions. 

FRANCIS  Eous  (Truro),  cetat.  61.  A  zealous  Puritan  of  former 
Parliaments,  and  known  by  various  pious  writings,  Rous  had  not 
yet  given  to  the  world  the  production  by  which  he  ought  now  to  be 
best  known  :  viz.  his  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms.  A  portrait  of 
him  which  I  have  seen  presents  him  with  grey  hair  and  beard,  a 
large  round  hat  on,  and  his  eyes  near  together.3 

OLIVER  CROMWELL  (Cambridge),   cetat.   42.     Though  this  was 
Cromwell's  third  Parliament,  he  entered  it  a  comparatively  undis- 
tinguished man.     He  was  known,  however,  in  the  Fen-counties, 
where  he   had   been  residing    (at  Ely  since   1636)   as   a  zealous 
gentleman -farmer    of    Puritan    principles.     He   was   a   cousin    of 
Hampden  and  of  Waller,  and  related  to  St.  John  the  Lawyer  and 
others  in  the  House ;  and  Hampden  could  certify  that  he  was  no 
ordinary  man,  but  "would  set  well  at  the  mark."     If  his  letter, 
written  two  years  before,  to  his  cousin,  St.  John's  wife,  could  have 
been  produced,  it  would  have  given  a  better  idea  of  him  than  any- 
thing else.     "  I  live,  you  know  where,"  he  had  there  said  in  reply 
to  some  letter  of  the  lady  expressing  admiration  and  affection  for 
him, — "  in  Meshec,  which  they  say  signifies  Prolonging ;  in  Kedar, 
'  which  signifies  Blackness  ;  yet  the  Lord  forsaketh  me  not.  Though 
*  He  do  prolong,  yet  He  will,  I  trust,  bring  me  to  His  tabernacle, 
'  to  His  resting-place.     My  soul  is  with  the  congregation  of  the 
'  First-born,  my  body  rests  in  hope ;  and,  if  here  I  may  honour  my 
'  God  either  by  doing  or  by  suffering,  I  shall  be  most  glad.  .  .  . 
'  You  know  what  my  manner  of  life  hath  been.     Oh,  I  lived  in 
"  and  loved  darkness,  and  hated  light ;  I  was  a  chief,  the  chief  of 
"  sinners.     This  is  true  :   I  hated  godliness,  yet  God  had  mercy 
"  on  me."     It  was  not  long  before  the  fervour  which  breaks  out  in 
these  lines  attracted  notice  in  the  House.     "  The  first  time  I  ever 
"  took  notice  of  Mr.  Cromwell,"  afterwards  wrote  Philip  Warwick, 
member  for  Radnor,  in  an  often-quoted  passage,  "  was  in  the  very 
"  beginning  of  the  Parliament  held  in  Nov.  1640,  when  I  vainly 
"  thought   myself   a  courtly  young  gentleman ;   for  we  courtiers 

1  Wood's  Athen.  III.  877—881 ;  and  Mr.  David  Laing's  "Notices  regarding 
Clarendon,  936  (Life).  Metrical  Versions  of  the  Psalms,"  in 

2  Debrett's  Baronetage.  appendix  to  Baillie's  Letters  (III.  532 

3  Wood's    Athenae,    III.    466;    and  et  seq.). 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.       165 

"  valued  ourselves  much  upon  our  good  clothes.  I  came  into  the 
"  House  one  morning,  well-clad,  and  i>erceived  a  gentleman  speak- 
"  ing  whom  I  knew  not  —  very  ordinarily  apparelled  ;  for  it  was  a 
"  plain  cloth  suit,  which  seemed  to  have  been  made  by  an  ill 
"  country  tailor  ;  his  linen  was  plain  and  not  very  clean  ;  and  I 
"  remember  a  speck  or  two  of  blood  upon  his  little  band,  which 
"  was  not  much  larger  than  his  collar.  His  hat  was  without  a  hat- 
"  band.  His  stature  was  of  a  good  size  ;  his  sword  stuck  close  to 
"  his  side  ;  his  countenance  swollen  and  reddish,  his  voice  sharp 
"  and  untunable,  and  his  eloquence  full  of  fervour."  Clarendon 
also  tells  us  how  he  found  Cromwell  "rude  "and  "tempestuous," 
beyond  all  bounds  of  courtesy,  in  one  of  his  first  encounters  with 
him  in  a  Committee.  All  Cromwell's  children  had  been  born  before 
the  Long  Parliament,  and  he  had  lost  his  eldest  son,  Robert,  about 
eighteen  months  before.1 

SIR  HENRY  VANE,  JUNIOR,  KNT.  (Hull),  <etat.  28.  The  life  of 
this  young  man,  the  eldest  son  of  Secretary  Sir  Henry  Vane,  had 
already  been  singular  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Sent  to  Oxford 
from  Westminster  School,  he  had  astounded  the  authorities  by 
refusing,  though  but  a  boy,  to  take  the  required  oaths.  Perplexed 
by  the  precocious  ultra-Puritanism  of  his  son,  the  elder  Vane  had 
sent  him  abroad  ;  and  in  his  twenty-third  year  he  had  emigrated  to 
America.  He  had  been  received  there  with  much  respect  as  the  son 
of  a  Privy  Councillor;  and  in  1636  he  had  been  elected  Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  the  fourth  in  its  series  of  Governors.  During 
his  year  of  office  the  colony  was  much  distracted  by  a  controversy 
occasioned  by  the  public  preaching  of  a  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  clergy 
declaring  the  usurpation  of  the  preaching  function  by  a  woman  to  be 
monstrous  and  unscriptural,  and  also  denouncing  her  doctrines  as 
Antinomian.  The  young  Governor  Vane,  and  a  minority  with  him, 
stood  out  for  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  liberty  ;  and  he  maintained  a  dis- 
cussion on  the  subject  in  printed  letters  with  the  ex-Governor,  Win- 
throp.  In  the  following  year  the  majority  re-elected  Winthrop  to  the 
Governorship,  and  Vane  returned  to  England,  leaving,  however,  a 
very  favourable  opinion  of  him  among  the  colonists.  He  married, 
sat  in  the  Short  Parliament  for  Hull,  had  been  knighted  by 
Charles  (June  1640),  and  had  been  appointed  to  the  lucrative  post 
of  joint-treasurer  of  the  navy.  It  was  probably  hoped  that  ho 
was  now  tamed,  and  would  act  as  became  his  father's  son.  But 
there  was  hardly  a  young  head  in  England  with  such  a  quantity 
of  undeveloped  theory  in  it.  "He  was  a  man,"  says  Clarendon, 
"  of  extraordinary  parts,  a  pleasant  wit,  a  great  understanding, 
"  which  pierced  into  and  discerned  the  purposes  of  other  men 
"  with  wonderful  sagacity,  whilst  he  had  himself  vultum  clausum, 
"  that  no  man  could  make  a  guess  of  what  he  intended."  This 
character  was  given  after  farther  knowledge  ;  but  Vane's  peculiar 


rr..  in  well  Mil.  1857),  I.       Hist,  and   Biog.  Essays,  I.   334,  335; 
79—90,  an.  I  1.  51,  55  (no\  ixndon,  Life,  936. 


166  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

visage  seems  to  have  struck  people  from  his  first  appearance  in 
the  House.  It  came  partly  from  his  father  and  mother,  "  neither 
of  whom,"  says  Clarendon,  "were  beautiful  persons"?;  but  there 
was  something  in  it  beyond  the  natural.1 

HENRY  MARTEN  (co.  Berks),  cetat.  38.  Belonging  also  to  the 
knot  of  the  more  extreme  speculative  spirits  of  the  time,  this 
Henry  Marten,  son  of  Sir  Henry  Marten,  Dean  of  the  Court  of 
Arches,  was  distinguished  from  all  of  them  by  a  certain  moral 
difference.  Educated  at  Oxford,  and  a  member  of  one  of  the  Inns 
of  Court,  he  had  been  provided  by  his  father  with  a  very  rich  wife, 
from  whom  he  had  separated.  He  had  been  living  an  easy, 
and,  as  was  said,  a  very  lax  life  about  town,  or  on  his  property  in 
the  Vale  of  the  White  Horse  in  Berks,  where  his  generosity  made 
him  very  popular.  "  He  was  a  great  lover  of  pretty  girls,"  says  the 
gossip  Aubrey,  writing  of  him  long  afterwards,  but  while  he  was 
still  alive,  "  and  as  far  from  a  Puritan  as  light  from  darkness." 
But  "  he  was,"  adds  the  same  gossip,  "  a  great  and  faithful  lover  of 
his  country."  Aubrey  goes  on,  "He  was  of  an  incomparable  wit  at 
repartees " ;  and  Sir  Eward  Baynton  was  wont  to  say  that  "  his 
company  was  incomparable,  but  that  he  would  be  drunk  too  soon." 
His  speeches  were  never  long,  but  "wondrous  pertinent,  poi- 
gnant, and  witty";  and  he  would  often  turn  the  whole  House  by  some 
happy  jest.  "  He  was  wont  to  sleep  much  in  the  House, — at  least 
"  dog-sleep.  Alderman  Atkins  made  a  motion  that  such  scan- 
"  dalous  members  as  slept  should  be  put  out.  H.  M.  starts  up  : 
11  '  Mr.  Speaker,  a  motion  has  been  made  to  turn  out  the  nodders  :  I 
"  desire  the  noddees  may  also  be  turned  out.' "  From  which  scraps  of 
gossip  it  may  be  seen  that  Marten  was  from  the  first  more  of  what 
we  should  now  call  a  freethinker  than  a  Puritan.  In  the  end 
they  came  to  call  him  an  Atheist,  a  Communist,  and  what  not.  It 
was  from  Marten,  at  all  events,  that  Hyde,  who  knew  him  well, 
first  heard  anything  like  an  expression  of  Republican  opinions. 
Meeting  him  in  Westminster  churchyard  soon  after  the  beginning 
of  the  Parliament,  and  jesting  with  him  on  his  connexion  with  the 
Puritans,  Hyde  had  heard  him  say,  "  I  do  not  think  one  man  wise 
enough  to  govern  us  all."  The  speech  took  away  Hyde's  breath.2 

BULSTRODE  WHITLOCKE  (Marlow),  cetat.  35.  Connected,  as  we 
already  know,  with  the  Bulstrodes  of  Horton  (Vol.  I.  p.  558), 
Whitlocke  had  for  some  time  been  an  eminent  lawyer  when  he  was 
chosen  to  serve  in  the  Long  Parliament.  Although  he  had  been 
educated  in  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  when  Laud  was  President  of 
the  College,  and  retained  some  affectionate  recollection  of  Laud  on 
that  account,  his  dispositions  were  with  the  party  of  Reform.  To 
that  party  he  remained  faithful  on  the  whole ;  but  his  character 

i  Wood's  Athen.  III.  578—587  ;  Cla-  of  American  Biographies  (1835). 

rendon,  75  and  442 ;    Sanford,   392—  «  Wood's    Athen.     III.    1237—1244, 

395  ;    and   Life    of    Vane    by    Charles  with  Bliss's  additions  ;  Aubrey's  Lives  ; 

Wentworth  Upham,  in  Sparks's  series  and  Clarendon  (Life),  937. 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:   HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.       167 

was  of  a  kind  to  be  swayed  pretty  easily  by  personal  considerations, 
and  by  events  as  they  turned  up.1 

SIR  SAMUEL  LUKE,  KNT.  (Bedford).  It  would  be  wrong  not  to 
take  note  of  this  zealous  Presbyterian  member  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, if  only  on  account  of  his  being  the  supposed  original  of 
Butler's  Hudibras.  I  have  seen  in  the  State  Paper  Office  a  petition 
from  Sir  Samuel  Luke,  in  1638,  to  Laud,  for  leave  for  himself  and 
family  to  attend  divine  service  at  any  one  of  three  parish  churches 
near  his  mansion  of  Woodend  in  Bedfordshire,  instead  of  his  own 
parish  church  of  Copthall,  the  distance  of  which  was  inconvenient, 
especially  in  winter.  Laud  (July  2,  1638)  granted  the  petition,  on 
condition  that  the  family  should  still  attend  the  communion  at 
Copthall  Church.  Butler  seems  about  this  time  to  have  been 
residing  in  Luke's  household,  as  secretary  or  the  like. 

SIR  EDWARD  DEERINO,  BART.  (co.  Kent).  This  gentleman, 
afterwards  a  zealous  royalist,  entered  the  Parliament  as  a  Puritan, 
particularly  vehement  for  Church  Reform.  He  was  called  "the 
silver  trumpet  of  the  House,"  having  a  fine  voice,  which  he  liked 
to  use.  "  A  man  of  levity  and  vanity,"  Clarendon  calls  him,  "  easily 
flattered  by  being  commended."2 

GEORGE,  LORD  DIGBY  (co.  Dorset),  <Ktat.  28.  This  young  noble- 
man, who  was  to  play  a  dashing  part  in  the  Parliament,  ultimately 
for  the  King,  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  and  had 
been  in  Madrid  when  his  father  was  ambassador  at  the  Spanish 
Court.  He  had  been  educated  at  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  where 
he  had  been  intimate  with  Peter  Heylyn,  then  Fellow  there.  Of 
"very  extraordinary  parts  by  nature  and  art,"  of  "graceful  and 
beautiful  person,"  of  "  great  eloquence  and  becomingness  in  his  dis- 
course," and  "  equal  to  a  very  good  part  in  the  greatest  affair,  but 
the  unfittest  man  alive  to  conduct  it,  having  an  ambition  and  vanity 
superior  to  all! his  other  parts,"  is  Clarendon's  character  of  him 
from  his  own  knowledge.  A  portrait  of  him  by  Vandyke  repre- 
sents him  as  very  handsome,  with  rich,  full  face,  and  long  curled 
fair  hair.8 

SIR  JOHN  COLEPEPPER  (co.  Kent).  In  the  course  of  events 
this  gentleman,  like  his  colleague  Deering,  was  to  go  over  to  the 
King's  side,  but  with  a  weight  of  character  and  influence  far  greater 
than  Deering's.  Clarendon's  character  of  him  is  that  he  was  "a 
"  good  speaker,  being  a  man  of  an  universal  understanding,  a  quick 
"  comprehension,  a  wonderful  memory,  who  commonly  spoke  at  the 
"  end  of  a  debate,  when  he  could  recollect  all  that  had  been  said  of 
"  weight  on  all  sides  with  great  exactness,  and  express  his  own  sense 
"  with  much  clearness,  and  such  an  application  to  the  House  that 
"  no  man  more  gathered  a  general  concurrence  to  his  opinion  than 
"  he ;  which  was  the  more  notable  because  his  person  and  manner  of 

»  Wood'*  Athcn.  III.  1042.  »  Wood's  Athon.  III.  1100;  Collin* 

2  Korster's  "  Arrontof  tho  Five  Mom-       by  Brydgos,  V.  865  rf  «*/.  ;  und  Clar. 
bore,"  228  ct  **/. ;  and  Clar.  96.  IT 


168  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  speaking  were  ungracious  enough."  In  another  place  Clarendon 
adds  such  particulars  as  these,' — that  "  he  was  of  a  rough  nature,  a 
hot  head,  and  of  great  courage,"  had  been  in  military  service  abroad 
and  had  fought  many  duels,  had  long  been  known  as  an  active 
man  of  business  among  the  Kentish  gentry,  and  had  now  entered 
Parliament  with  a  determination  to  make  himself  felt.  He  had, 
however,  "a  fancy  so  perpetually  working"  that,  though  he  might 
agree  to  a  project  to-day,  he  would  have  to-morrow  a  new  budget  of 
doubts  about  it, — which,  Clarendon  thinks,  was  his  chief  fault.1 

EDWARD  HYDE  (Saltash,  Cornwall),  cetat.  32.  Hyde's  antecedents 
are  known  to  us  as  far  as  to  the  year  1632  (Vol.  I.  pp.  531 — 533). 
Since  then  he  had  been  diligent  in  his  profession  as  a  lawyer,  and 
had  acquired  as  much  practice  as  he  cared  for,  so  as,  with  a  com- 
petent estate  of  his  own  to  boot,  to  be  leading  "  a  very  pleasant  and 
plentiful  life."  But  "  he  had  ambition  enough,"  he  says,  "  to  keep 
him  from  being  satisfied  with  his  own  condition  " ;  and  to  this  am- 
bition, together  with  his  fastidious  and  intellectual  tastes,  he  owed, 
he  hints,  his  moral  salvation.  "  There  never  was  an  age,"  he  says, 
"  in  which,  in  so  short  a  time,  so  many  young  gentlemen  who  had 
"  not  experience  in  the  world,  or  some  good  tutelar  angel  to  protect 
"  them,  were  insensibly  and  suddenly  overwhelmed  in  that  sea  of 
"  wine  and  women,  and  quarrels  and  gaming,  which  almost  over- 
"  spread  the  whole  kingdom."  Happily  escaping  a  fate  to  which 
a  certain  luxuriousness  of  disposition  might  have  exposed  him,  and 
retaining  his  many  friends  among  the  lawyers  and  wits,  and  above 
all  his  affectionate  intimacy  with  Lord  Falkland  and  the  rest  of  the 
thoughtful  "  Latitudinarian  "  group,  he  had  of  late  been  extending 
his  acquaintance  in  the  direction  of  the  Court.  Among  the  noble- 
men, he  knew  Essex,  Pembroke,  Hertford,  Manchester,  Holland, 
Dorset,  Mandeville,  and  Conway ;  and  circumstances  had  brought 
him  into  somewhat  confidential  communication  with  Laud.  He 
fancied  that  Laud  did  a  great  many  unpopular  things  from  having  no 
friend  about  him  candid  enough  to  explain  matters  to  him  and  to  tell 
him  his  faults  of  manner  and  temper,  and  he  seems  to  have  thought 
that,  if  he  himself  were  much  with  Laud,  there  was  a  fund  of  reason- 
ableness in  the  old  man  that  might  be  managed  for  good.  Still,  on 
the  whole,  Hyde  took  his  place  in  the  Parliament,  as  in  its  pre- 
decessor, decidedly  as  a  reformer  ;  and,  as  a  lawyer,  he  had  reform- 
hobbies  of  his  own.  He  was  a  first-rate  speaker ;  "  if  not  a  little 
too  redundant,"  says  Sir  Philip  Warwick.2 

SIR  Lucius  CAREY,  VISCOUNT  FALKLAND  (Newport,  Isle  of 
Wight),  cetat.  30.  Always  close  to  Hyde  in  the  House,  in  a  place 
near  the  Speaker  which  was  kept  for  them  by  a  tacit  understanding, 
sat  his  dear  friend  Falkland,  whom  he  admired  and  loved  more  than 
any  other  man  in  the  House.  (The  Falkland  Peerage,  being  Scottish, 
did  not  exclude  Falkland  from  the  Commons.)  Nor  was  it  long 

i  Clarendon,  136  (History),  and  940  2  Clarendon,   932  et  seq.  (Life) ;  and 

(Life) ;  Warwick's  Memoir,  195-6.  Warwick,  196. 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.       169 

before  those  qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  Hyde,  Chillingworth, 
Hales  and  others  had  for  years  been  admiring  in  the  young  noble- 
man in  private  arrested  the  attention  of  the  House,  and  made 
him,  though  perhaps  the  most  diminutive  and  insignificant-looking 
person  in  it,  one  of  its  leading  minds.  In  politics  he  was,  on  the 
whole,  in  advance  of  Hyde.  "He  had  not  the  Court  in  great 
'  reverence,  and  had  a  presaging  spirit  that  the  King  would  fall 
1  into  great  misfortune " ;  and,  though  "  he  had  a  better  opinion 
1  of  the  Church  of  England  and  the  religion  of  it  than  of  any 
'  other  church  and  religion,  and  had  extraordinary  kindness  for 
'  very  many  churchmen,"  yet  "  he  had  in  his  own  judgment  such 
'  a  latitude  of  opinion  that  he  did  not  believe  any  part  of  the  order 
*  or  government  of  it  to  be  so  essentially  necessary  to  religion  but 
1  that  it  might  be  parted  with."  Here  Hyde  was  at  variance  with 
him ;  but  Falkland's  characteristic  wish  that  it  could  be  brought 
about  that  all  necessary  reforms  should  come  from  the  Crown  itself 
kept  him  and  Hyde  together  to  the  end.1 

ARTHUR  CAPEL  (Hertfordshire),  tetat.  40.  This  gentleman  took 
his  place  in  the  Commons  as  a  reformer,  and  was  actually  the  first 
to  stand  up  there  and  complain  of  the  grievances  of  the  country. 
Very  soon,  however,  his  Royalist  tendencies  were  to  declare  them- 
selves ;  and  he  was  but  eight  months  in  the  Commons  when  (Aug. 
6,  1641)  he  was  transferred  to  the  Lords  as  Baron  Capel  of  Hadhani, 
co.  Herts.  It  is,  consequently,  as  the  Royalist  Lord  Capel,  brave 
to  the  death,  that  he  is  now  remembered.  "  He  had  always,"  says 
Clarendon,  "  lived  in  a  state  of  great  plenty  and  general  estimation, 
"  having  a  very  noble  fortune  of  his  own  by  descent,  and  a  fair 
"  addition  to  it  by  his  marriage  with  an  excellent  wife,  a  lady  of 
"  very  worthy  extraction,  of  great  virtue  and  beauty,  by  whom  he 
"  had  a  numerous  issue  of  both  sexes,  in  which  he  took  great  joy 
"  and  comfort,  so  that  no  man  was  more  happy  in  all  his  domestic 
"  affairs."  A  picture  of  him  by  Jansen,  still  extant,  represents  him 
with  his  family  about  him.2 

EDMUND  WALLER  (St  Ives,  Cornwall),  <etat.  35.  Since  we  parted 
with  him  last  in  1632  (Vol.  I.  pp.  505,  506)  this  well-known  poet 
had  been  living  the  life  of  a  very  wealthy  young  widower,  chiefly  on 
his  estates  in  Bucks,  occasionally  turning  out  a  copy  of  graceful 
verses,  addressed  to  the  King,  the  Queen,  or  some  courtier  or  lady, 
but,  on  the  whole,  preserving  his  independence.  Unsuccessful  in  his 
suit  of  Lady  Dorothy  Sidney,  the  "  Saccharissa  "  of  his  poems,  he  had 
married,  for  his  second  wife,  a  lady  of  humbler  rank.  He  had  re- 
entered  public  life  in  the  Short  Parliament  with  such  dispositions 
as  might  be  expected  in  one  who  was  a  kinsman  of  Hampden  and 
( 'K.I 1 1 well,  and  yet  of  cool  intellectual  tastes  and  a  friend  of  Hyde 
ami  Falkland.  "  He  was  a  very  pleasant  discourser,"  says  Clarendon, 

'  <  larctMlon,  939—40,  and  966  (Life);       worth,  IV.  29 ;  Clar.  Hist.  703 ;  Picture 
and  sec  Y,,l.  I.  ,,,,.  538-540.  No.  794  in  National  Portrait  Exhibition 

;-dalo'»  Baronage,  II.  466 ;  Hush-       ,,f  1866. 


170  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  in  earnest  and  in  jest,  and  therefore  very  grateful  to  all  kind  of 
"  company."  In  the  House  he  at  once  took  a  prominent  part. 
"  Having  a  graceful  way  of  speaking,  and  by  thinking  much  upon 
"  several  arguments  (which  his  temper  and  complexion,  that  had 
"  much  of  melancholic,  inclined  him  to),  he  often  seemed  to  speak 
"  upon  the  sudden  when  the  occasion  had  only  admitted  the  oppor- 
"  tunity  of  saying  what  he  had  thoroughly  considered, — which  yet 
"  was  rather  of  delight  than  weight."  The  terrible  moral  defects 
which,  according  to  Clarendon,  mingled  with  all  his  good  qualities, 
— to  wit,  "a  narrowness  in  his  nature  to  the  lowest  degree,"  and  his 
"  abjectness  and  want  of  courage  to  support  him  in  any  virtuous 
"  undertaking", — were  subsequent  discoveries.1 

SIR  WILLIAM  WALLER,  KNT.  (Andover),  cetat.  43.  Possibly  a 
relative  of  the  poet,  and  of  a  good  family  in  Kent,  this  Waller  had 
been  educated  at  Oxford,  had  served  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  great 
German  war,  had  been  knighted  by  James  in  1622,  and,  having 
married  twice  since  that  time,  had  been  living  as  a  country-gentle- 
man of  decidedly  Presbyterian  opinions.  Entering  Parliament  as 
"  an  active  person  against  prerogative  and  everything  that  looked 
"  that  way,"  he  was  to  be  better  known  ere  long  in  a  military 
capacity.  That  he  was  a  man  of  talent  and  of  serious  and  thought- 
ful mind  is  proved,  not  only  by  his  subsequent  career,  but  by  medi- 
tative writings  of  his  later  years  which  may  still  be  read,  and  which 
Coleridge  admired.  He  was  a  very  little  man,  fair  and  rather 
florid,  with  brown  hair,  tending  to  grey.2 

SIR  KALPH  HOPTON,  K.B.  (Wells).  He  was  the  son  of  a 
Somersetshire  squire,  and,  after  having  been  for  some  time  at 
Oxford,  had  gone  abroad  in  his  youth  to  serve  in  the  first  stage  of 
the  great  German  war.  He  had  been  Sir  William  Waller's  com- 
panion in  arms  there.  He  was  present  at  the  Battle  of  Prague 
(Nov.  8,  1620),  and  had  helped  gallantly  in  the  escape  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  (daughter  of  James  I.  of  England)  after  that 
crushing  'defeat  of  her  and  her  husband's  cause.  Keturning  to 
England,  he  had  been  made  K.B.  at  the  coronation  of  Charles  I., 
and  had  served  in  several  of  Charles's  Parliaments,  so  that,  when 
he  appeared  in  the  Long  Parliament  as  member  for  Wells,  it  was 
with  some  acquired  political  experience.  He  was  decidedly  for 
destroying  the  system  of  "  Thorough  "  and  liberalizing  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  it  was  not  till  mere  discussion  had  turned  into  civil  war 
that  his  conscience  led  him  on  the  whole  to  declare  for  the  King. 
Then  his  military  talents  came  into  request,  and  he  was  to  prove 
perhaps  the  very  ablest  English  officer  the  King  had.  "  A  man 
"  superior  to  any  temptation,"  Clarendon  calls  him ;  "of  good 
"  understanding,  a  clear  courage,  an  industry  not  to  be  tired,  and  a 
"  generosity  not  to  be  exhausted  ";  and  the  testimony  is  uniform  to 

i  Waller's  Life  in  Johnson's  "Lives       928  (Life). 

of  the  Poets"  (where  there  is  a  mistake  2  Wood's  Athen.  III.  814;  Warwick's 

as  to  Waller's  burgh) ;  Clarendon,  927,       Memoir,  254  ;  and  Clarendon,  401. 


1640-41.J     THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.       171 

the  same  effect.     A  portrait  I  have  seen  represents  him  in  a  ruff, 
with  short  fair  hair,  and  a  small  fair  beard.1 

FERDINANDO,  LORD  FAIRFAX  (co.  York),  a*at.  56.  The  Fairfaxes 
were  an  ancient  and  important  family  in  Yorkshire.  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax  of  Denton  in  that  county,  a  soldier  and  diplomatist  in  his 
earlier  years,  but  latterly  leading  the  life  of  an  active  country- 
gentleman,  had  been  created  Baron  Fairfax  of  Cameron  in  the 
Scottish  peerage  in  1627.  Ferdinando,  his  son,  had  been  knighted 
by  James  in  1607,  when  he  was  twenty-three  years  of  age,  had  in 
the  same  year  married  Lady  Mary,  daughter  of  Lord  Sheffield, 
President  of  the  North,  and  had  since  then  lived  also  chiefly  in  his 
native  county.  To  him  and  his  wife  there  had  been  born  a  large 
family, — their  eldest  son  being  Thomas  Fairfax  (born  1612),  after- 
wards the  celebrated  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Parliamentary 
Army.  Edward  Fairfax,  the  poet  and  translator  of  Tasso,  was  the 
brother  of  the  old  peer,  and,  living  much  in  Yorkshire  till  his 
death  in  1632,  had  had  some  share  in  the  education  both  of  his 
nephew,  Sir  Ferdinando,  and  of  his  grand-nephew,  the  future 
general.  In  the  year  of  the  poet's  death,  the  future  general,  though 
only  twenty  years  of  age,  was  already  a  conspicuous  member  of 
the  family.  After  four  years  at  Cambridge  he  had  gone  abroad 
for  military  service  in  the  Netherlands  under  Lord  Vere,  and  he 
had  just  returned  with  some  reputation  so  acquired,  and  with  the 
name  among  his  relatives  of  "fiery  young  Tom."  In  1637  he  had 
married  Anne,  daughter  of  his  late  commander,  Lord  Vere,  and 
taken  up  his  home  with  her  in  Yorkshire,  beside  his  grandfather,  the 
old  peer,  and  his  father,  Sir  Ferdinando.  All  the  three  Fairfaxes, 
therefore,  were  in  Yorkshire  at  the  time  of  Charles's  first  expedition 
against  the  Scots  (1639);  and  two  of  them,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
been  active  in  the  King's  service  in  that  expedition, — Sir  Ferdi- 
nando as  colonel  of  a  Yorkshire  foot-regiment,  and  Thomas  as  a 
commander  of  horse.  Thomas's  horse-troop  was  known  as  "The 
Yorkshire  Redcaps,"  and  his  service  with  them  was  so  marked  that 
Charles,  before  returning  from  the  bootless  expedition,  knighted 
him.  It  was  not  till  May  1640  that  the  old  peer  died,  and  Sir 
Ferdinando  became  Lord  Fairfax.  He,  and  his  son,  Sir  Thomas, 
took  some  i>art  again  for  Charles  in  the  second  Scottish  campaign 
in  that  year,  though  by  that  time  Lord  Fairfax's  political  reluctance 
had  begun  to  appear.  When  he  entered  the  Commons  House  in 
the  Long  Parliament  (from  which  his  peerage,  being  Scottish,  did 
not  exclude  him),  it  was  understood  that  he  would  belong  to  the 
I>arty  of  Reform.  He  had  already,  as  Sir  Ferdinando,  been  in  one 
of  Charles's  early  Parliaments,  and  also  in  the  Short  Parliament  of 
April  1640.  He  is  described  as  "a  man  of  good  average  ability, 
"  with  great  powers  of  application,  steadiness  of  aim,  and  unswerv- 
"  ing  honesty  of  purpose  " ;  and  his  portrait  presents  him  as  hand- 
some, light-haired,  and  good-humoured.  He  is  less  memorable  on 
»  Dugdale's  Baronage,  II.  469 ;  Markham's  Fairfax,  262 ;  Clar.  482. 


172  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

his  own  account,  however,  than  as  the  father  of  his  son,  Sir  Thomas, 
who  was  not  then  in  Parliament,  but  in  Yorkshire  (a  young  husband 
of  twenty -seven,  with  one  or  two  children),  waiting  the  call  of 
events.1 

SIR  SIMONDS  D'EwES,  KNT.  (Sudbury),  cetat.  38.  Since  we  saw 
D'Ewes  as  a  student  at  Cambridge  (Vol.  I.  pp.  261—263),  he  had 
been  called  to  the  Bar  of  the  Middle  Temple  (1623),  had  become 
known  as  a  zealous  antiquarian,  had  married,  been  knighted  by 
Charles,  and,  having  succeeded  his  father  in  the  property  of  Stow 
Hall,  Suffolk,  had  been  living  as  a  well-to-do  country  knight.  He 
had  been  high  sheriff  of  Suffolk  in  1639,  and  was  known  to  his 
neighbours  as  a  pious  gentleman  of  Puritan  views.  Having  com- 
pleted, as  early  as  1632,  his  "Journals  of  the  Parliaments  of 
Elizabeth "  (not  published  till  half  a  century  afterwards),  he  was 
anxious  to  be  chosen  for  the  Long  Parliament.  Having  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  seat  just  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  Parliament, 
he  entered  it  with  some  real  reputation  as  an  authority  in  questions 
of  Parliamentary  precedent  and  privilege ;  which  reputation  his 
vanity  disposed  him  to  overtax,  till  the  House  began  to  regard  him 
as  a  bore.  But  his  indefatigable  habit  of  note-taking  enabled  him 
to  do  posterity  a  service.  On  the  very  first  day  of  his  taking  his 
seat  he  produced  his  note-book  and  began  to  jot  down  details  of 
the  incidents  and  speeches.  Though  a  little  inconvenienced  by 
his  being  short-sighted,  and  by  a  certain  jealousy  of  the  House 
about  reporting  its  proceedings  at  all,  he  persevered  in  the 
practice  steadily,  till,  what  with  his  notes  in  the  House,  and  what 
with  expansions  of  them  by  himself  or  his  amanuensis  in  his 
lodgings  (first  in  Millbank  Lane  and  then  in  Goat's  Alley),  the 
result  was  those  folio  volumes  of  MSS.,  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
in  which  inquirers  into  the  history  of  that  period  find  so  much 
interesting  material  in  such  a  confused  state  and  in  such  dread- 
fully cramp  handwriting.  D'Ewes,  however,  was  not  the  only 
note-taker  among  the  members.  SIR  RALPH  VERNEY  (Aylesbury), 
FRAMLINGHAM  GAWDY  (Thetford),  and  one  or  two  others,  also  took 
notes.2 

To  the  foregoing  list  of  members  individually  may  be  added  the 
following  names,  some  of  them  known  to  us  already,  and  others 
important  enough  to  be  known,  but  for  which  a  collective  reference 
will  suffice  here  : — -I.  Country  Gentlemen.  In  this  category  may  be 
mentioned — SIDNEY  GODOLPHIN  (Helston,  Cornwall),  the  friend  of 
Hyde  and  Falkland;  SIR  DUDLEY  NORTH  (co.  Cambridge),  son 
and  heir  of  Dudley,  3rd  Lord  North;  SIR  JOHN  STRANGEWAYS 
and  SIR  WALTER  EARLE  (colleagues  for  Weymouth) ;  SIR  JOHN 
HOTHAM  (Beverley),  and  his  son  JOHN  HOTHAM  (Scarborough) ; 

1  Life  of  the  Great  Lord  Fairfax,  by  a  very  interesting  account  of  D'Ewes 
Clements  K.  Markham,  F.S.A.  (1870),  in  connexion  with  the  Long  Parliament 
pp.  1 — 41.  was  given  by  the  late  Mr.  John  Bruce); 

2  English  Biography,  Vol.  V.  ;   and  Harl.  MSS.  162,  163,  et  seq. 
Edinburgh  Revieiv  for  July  1846  (where 


1640-41.]     THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT:    HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.       173 

SIR  JOHN  WRAY  (Lincolnshire) ;  SIR  JOHN  EVELYN  (Ludgerehall, 
Wilts),  and  his  namesake  SIR  JOHN  EVELYN  (Bletchingley,  Sur- 
rey) ;  SIR  ROBERT  PYE  (Woodstock,  with  Speaker  Lenthall  for  his 
f ellow- member) ;  SIR  THOMAS  BARRINGTON  (Colchester),  a  cousin 
of  Cromwell;  Su:  WILLIAM  MASHAM  (co.  Essex),  also  Cromwell's 
kinsman;  Su:  HIM:V  MII.I»MAY  and  SIR  JOHN  CLOTWORTHY  (col- 
leagues for  Maiden) ;  WILLIAM  PIEREPOINT  (Great  Wenlock), 
second  son  of  the  Earl  of  Kingston ;  SIR  ROBERT  HARLEY  (co. 
Hereford) ;  LORD  PHILIP  LISLE  (Yarmouth,  Isle  of  Wight),  eldest 
son  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester ;  SIR  HENRY  LUDLOW  (co.  Wilts),  the 
father  of  Edmund  Ludlow ;  and  SIR  JOHN  DRYDEN  (co.  North- 
ampton), the  uncle  of  the  poet  Dryden,  who  was  then  a  boy  of  nine 

years  of  age. II.  Eminent  Lawyers.     In  this  category,  besides 

those  already  mentioned,  may  be  noted  these :  JOHN  MAYNARD 
(Totness) ;  JOHN  GLYNN  (Westminster),  Recorder  of  London ; 
JOHN  GLANVILLE  (Bristol) ;  GEOFFREY  PALMER  (Stamford) ;  JOHN 
WYLDE  (Worcestershire) ;  EDWARD  BAGSHAW  (South wark) ;  ROBERT 
HOLBORN  (Michell,  Cornwall) ;  and  HARBOTTLE  GRIMSTONE  (Col- 
chester).  III.  Army-men.  Some  of  the  country -gentlemen 

mentioned  had  had  military  training ;  but  Army-men  in  a  more 
especial  sense  were  these :  HENRY  WILMOT  (Tamworth),  who  had 
been  Commissary -general  in  the  second  army  against  the  Scots; 
HENRY  PERCY  (co.  Northumberland),  brother  of  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland ;  HENRY  JERMYN  (Bury  St.  Edmunds),  master  of 
horse  to  the  Queen ;  COLONEL  GEORGE  GORING  (Portsmouth),  son  of 
Lord  Goring ;  COLONEL  ASHBURNHAM  (Ludgershall,  Wilts) ;  and 

CAPTAIN  POLLARD  (Beeralston). IV.  Citizen-merchants.    Of  this 

class  were  ISAAC  PENNINGTON,  THOMAS  SOAME,  JOHN  VENN,  and 
SAMUEL  VASSAL,  aldermen  of  the  City  of  London  and  members 
for  the  City,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  aldermen  from  other  towns, 
I'KNNINGTON  was  certainly  the  most  conspicuous  man  of  the  class, 
highly  popular  with  the  citizens  of  London,  and  at  the  same  time 
deep  in  all  the  counsels  of  the  Puritan  leaders  in  Parliament.1 


NINE  MONTHS  OF  GENERAL  PARLIAMENTARY  ACTION. 

Imagine  the  two  Houses,  in  November  1640,  settled  for 
their  work.  Imagine  the  Lords  in  their  House,  with  Lord 
Keeper  Finch  on  the  woolsack  (though  not  to  occupy  it  long), 
and  with  Thomas  Willys,  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown,  and  John 

1  Convinced  as  I  am   that   such    a  or  disnuisition,  I  have  taken  groat  paint* 

counting  of  tho  eminent  heads  of  any  with  tno  list.    Yet  I  may  not  have  oeen 

time  or  moment  as  that  which  I  have  able    to   avoid    errors. — Original    por- 

itt. mptcd  for  the  Long  Parliament  is  traits  of  most  of  tho  celebrities  of  tho 

worth,  for  genuine  historical  purjio&ea,  Long  Parliament  wore  in  tho  National 

many  scores  of  {ages  of  more  narrative  Portrait  Exhibition  of  1866. 


174  LIFE  OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

Browne,  the  Clerk  of  the  Parliament,  in  constant  attendance. 
Imagine  the  Commons  in  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  at  one  end 
of  which,  under  the  great  window,  is  the  chair  on  which 
Speaker  Lenthall  sits,  with  Henry  Elsyng,  Clerk  of  the 
Commons,  and  John  Eushworth,  the  assistant-clerk,  at  a  table 
immediately  in  front  of  him,  while  the  great  body  of  the 
members  sit  in  rows  at  the  sides,  or  some  of  them  at  the 
ends  under  the  galleries,  or  some  even  in  the  galleries  them- 
selves. Gradually  the  members  fix  upon  places  according  to 
their  tastes.  Pym  sat  on  the  Speaker's  left,  but  at  some 
distance  from  him ;  and  on  the  same  side,  but  nearer  the 
Speaker,  sat  the  younger  Vane,  St.  John,  Holies,  D'Ewes, 
Henry  Marten,  and  Edmund  Waller.  On  the  other  side  sat 
the  elder  Vane,  Hyde,  and  Falkland  (these  three  always  close 
together  near  the  Speaker),  also  Eudyard,  Strode,  Isaac 
Pennington,  and  Cromwell.  Selden  usually  sat  under  the 
gallery  at  the  entrance  ;  Haselrig  and  Holborn  usually  in  the 
gallery.1  Business  began  every  morning  with  prayers  at 
eight  o'clock ;  and  for  a  time  it  was  tried  to  end  by  about 
one  o'clock.  This,  however,  was  found  impossible,  and  after- 
noon sittings  became  habitual,  extending  often  till  dusk. 
Such  afternoon  sittings,  however,  were  rarely  attended  by  the 
younger  and  idler  members ;  who  would  be  off  to  the  parks 
or  to  bowls  or  tennis  after  their  early  dinner.  A  system  of 
fines  was  tried,  to  compel  afternoon-attendance  and  punctuality 
at  morning  prayers.  It  had  to  be  given  up,  but  seems  from 
time  to  time  to  have  been  renewed. 

In  the  first  nine  months  of  the  sittings,  or  between  Nov.  3, 
1640,  and  August  1641,  the  two  Houses,  partly  by  the 
agency  of  numerous  Committees  on  different  subjects,  got 
through  a  vast  quantity  of  work.  A  minute  student,  de- 
sirous of  ascertaining  every  particular  of  their  discussions 
or  determinations  during  those  nine  months,  might  spend 
nine  months  of  his  own  life  in  mere  reading  for  the  pur- 
pose. In  the  following  summary  I  shall  but  mass  together, 

1  D'Ewes  is  the  authority  for  such       Review  (by  the  late  Mr.  John  Bruce), 
particulars  ;  and  some  of  them  are  from       July  1846. 
an  article  on  D'Ewes  in  the  Edinburgh 


1640-41.]       RELEASE  AND  COMPENSATION   OF   VICTIMS.  175 

under  five  heads,  what  it  seems  desirable  to  know  of  the 
nature  and  results  of  their  action  in  various  general  depart- 
ments, before  following  them  into  one  department  of  para- 
mount interest,  where  our  inquiries  must  be  more  express 
and  laborious: — 

I.  RELEASE  AND  COMPENSATION  OF  VICTIMS. — Meeting  as 
they  did  avowedly  to  break  the  neck  of  "Thorough,"  the 
Parliament,  led  by  the  Commons,  addressed  themselves,  first 
of  all,  to  the  business  of  liberating  and  solacing  such  victims 
of  the  late  tyranny  as  were  still  in  durance.  Among  the 
many  cases  of  immediate  relief  to  individuals  one  dwells, 
with  chief  interest  still,  as  all  England  did  at  the  time, 
on  some  five  or  six.  There  were  Prynne,  Burton,  and 
Bastwick,  who  had  been  lying  in  their  separate  prisons  in  the 
Channel  Islands  and  the  Scilly  Islands  since  their  public 
torture  and  mutilation  in  1637;  there  was  young  John 
Lilburne,  who  had  been  whipped  through  the  streets  in  1638 
for  distributing  Prynne's  writings,  and  had  been  in  prison 
since  then ;  there  was  the  poor  Scot,  Dr.  Alexander  Leighton, 
father  of  the  future  Archbishop  Leighton,  who  had  been  in 
prison  since  his  horrible  mutilation  for  an  Anti-Prelatic  pam- 
phlet so  long  ago  as  1630.  On  the  7th  of  November,  the 
first  real  day  of  business  in  the  Commons,  most  of  these  cases 
came  up.  Lilburne's  petition  was  presented  by  Cromwell ; 
and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  Sir  Philip  Warwick  first 
saw  Cromwell,  and  took  note  of  his  untidy  appearance,  his 
swollen,  reddish  face,  and  his  harsh  and  fervid  manner.  That 
very  day  Lilburne  and  Leighton  were  at  large ;  and  within 
little  more  than  a  month  Prynne,  Burton,  and  Bastwick  were 
back  from  their  more  distant  prisons  amid  vast  cheering  of 
the  citizens,  who  poured  out  in  huge  crowds,  on  horse,  in 
coaches,  and  on  foot,  all  with  rosemary  branches,  to  meet 
them.  Burton  and  Bastwick  were  restored  to  their  wives, 
and  Prynne,  who  had  no  wife,  to  his  chambers  in  Lincoln's 
Inn  In  due  time  came  compensations  of  6,000/.,  6,000/., 
and  like  sums,  with  Burton's  restoration  to  his  church  in 
Friday  Street,  and  Prynne's  to  his  barristership.  Something 
was  also  done  for  the  stout  London  citizen  and  merchant 


176  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Richard  Chambers,  and  for  other  victims  of  the  Star- 
chamber.1 

II.  PUNISHMENT  OF  DELINQUENTS. — Of  longer  duration 
and  more  intricate  difficulty  were  proceedings,  as  natural  and 
necessary,  for  the  trial  and  punishment  of  the  chief  agents 
of  "  Thorough."  Under  a  constitutional  government,  freely 
working  by  changes  of  ministry  and  the  like,  the  practice  of 
the  impeachment  arid  punishment  of  eminent  political  delin- 
quents on  retrospective  charges  has  come  to  seem  meaningless 
or  ridiculous.  The  politicians  who  were  in  go  out,  and  the 
politicians  who  were  out  come  in;  and  all  shake  hands  and 
begin  again.  But,  in  a  nation  where  there  has  been  "  a 
tyranny,"  where  certain  men  have  held  and  used  power 
for  a  long  period  against  the  will  and  struggles  of  the  com- 
munity, then,  when  the  tables  have  been  turned,  these  men 
have  to  expect  a  severe  reckoning.  How  should  it  be  other- 
wise ?  So  long  as  Prcemium  and  Pcena  rule  the  world,- it  seems 
impossible  that  the  trial  and  punishment  by  a  community  of 
those  whom  it  has  marked  in  such  circumstances  as  eminent 
political  delinquents  can  be  anything  else  than  a  necessity. 
At  all  events,  in  England  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago 
this  principle  was  in  operation.  When  the  Long  Parliament 
met,  it  was  as  impossible  for  it  to  avoid  bringing  Stafford, 
Laud,  Cottington,  Windebank,  and  a  few  others,  to  account, 
as  it  would  be  now  to  allow  alleged  criminals  of  another 
order  to  escape  the  law. 

Bloodthirstiness  was  not  a  characteristic  of  the  Parlia- 
ment. There  was  but  one  of  Charles's  confidential  junto 
of  ministers  respecting  whom  Pym  and  the  other  leaders 
had  made  up  their  minds  that  nothing  short  of  his  death 
would  satisfy  the  national  need.  This  was  Stafford.  Him 
they  struck  first.  Charles's  selfishness  or  his  infatuation 
had  given  them  the  opportunity.  Stafford,  foreseeing  what 

i  Bush  worth,    IV.     20   and    228-9  ;  in  the  Isle  of  Stilly  "  ;  the  other  from 

May's    Hist,    of     Long     Parl.    (1812),  "Sara  Burton,  wife  of  Henry  Burton, 

54,  55 ;   Neal  (edit.    1794),    II.    366—  now  close  prisoner  in  the    Island    of 

368;   and    documents     in     S.    P.    0.  Guernsey."    Mrs.    Bastwick   says    she 

Among  these  documents  are  two  peti-  had  never  been  allowed  to  see  her  hus- 

tions,  dated  Nov.  7,  1640:   one  from  band,  had   "many   small  children  de- 

"  Susanna  Bastwick,  wife  of  John  Bast-  pending  on  her,"  and  had  been  in  great 

wick,  Doctor  of  Physic,  close  prisoner  straits  and  misery. 


1640-41.]  1TMSHMENT  OF  DELINQUENTS.  177 

must  happen,  had  begged,  had  implored,  that  he  might  be 
permitted  to  return  to  Ireland,  or  to  remain  with  the  wrecks 
of  the  English  army  in  Yorkshire,  so  as  to  be  absent  from 
the  Parliament.  But,  the  King  having  replied  that  Strafford's 
presence  was  necessary,  and  having  given  his  royal  word  that 
"  not  a  hair  of  his  head  should  be  touched,"  the  brave  man 
had  dared  the  worst  On  the  9th  of  November  he  was  in 
London.  On  the  llth,  coming  straight  from  the  King,  he 
entered  the  House  of  Lords  "  with  a  proud,  glooming  counte- 
nance." He  was  "  making  towards  his  place  at  the  board-end  " 
when  he  found  Pym  and  other  deputies  from  the  Commons 
already  there,  in  the  act  of  impeaching  him  and  demanding 
his  arrest.  Driven  back  to  the  door  by  outcries,  he  was  re- 
admitted, only  to  be  called  to  his  knees  and  delivered  to  the 
custody  of  the  Black  Rod.  This  custody  was  exchanged  on  the 
25th  of  November  for  the  sterner  one  of  the  Tower.1  From 
the  moment  of  his  arrest  it  may  be  said  that  the  reign  of 
"  Thorough "  was  definitely  at  an  end,  the  King  cowed  and 
crippled,  and  the  Parliament  supreme  in  England  for  all 
farther  action  whatsoever.  Had  Strafford  remained  at  large, 
a  dissolution  of  the  Parliament,  with  some  new  high-handed 
attempt  by  the  King,  might  have  come  any  day,  and  all  might 
have  been  lost  or  thrown  confusedly  back.  Hence  the  pro- 
found sagacity,  as  well  as  the  boldness,  of  the  policy  of 
making  his  impeachment  for  treason  almost  the  first  act  of 
the  Commons.  The  proposal  was  Pym's.  It  was  the  master- 
stroke by  which  he  inaugurated  and  assumed  his  Parlia- 
mentary leadership. 

Strafford  having  been  disposed  of,  the  proceedings  against 
his  chief  fellow -culprits  were  more  leisurely.  Secretary 
Windebank,  who  had  been  in  trepidation  since  the  opening 
of  the  Parliament,  took  flight  in  the  night  of  the  1st  of  De- 
cember, to  avoid  certain  arrest  in  the  House  the  next  day  ; 
and,  after  skulking  about  the  Kentish  coast  for  a  day  or  two, 
he  escaped  to  France,  by  crossing  the  Channel  on  a  dark- 
foggy  night,  with  his  nephew  and  secretary,  Reade,  in  a  small 

'  Kushworth,  IV.  42,  43;  May,  69,  60 ;  Baillio,  I.  272. 
VOL.  II  N 


178  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTOEY    OF  HIS   TIME. 

boat.1  Lord  Keeper  Finch,  against  whom  charges  of  treason 
were  in  preparation,  escaped  or  was  let  escape  (Dec.  22)  into 
Holland.  The  Marquis  of  Hamilton  and  Lord  Cottington, 
against  both  of  whom  proceedings  had  at  first  been  threatened, 
were  also  allowed  to  withdraw  themselves  on  their  good 

behaviour. With  Strafford  in  the  Tower,  and  Hamilton 

forgiven,  there  remained  of  the  so-called  Triumvirs  only  Laud. 
The  resolution  how  to  deal  with  him  seems  to  have  been 
formed  gradually.  Attacked  in  the  Commons  on  the  10th  of 
December  by  Sir  Edward  Deering,  again  more  formally  at- 
tacked on  the  18th  by  Denzil  Holies,  and  complained  against 
from  time  to  time  by  the  Scottish  Commissioners  before 
the  Lords,  it  was  not  till  the  1st  of  March  1640-41,  that 
he  was  removed  from  the  house  of  Mr.  Maxwell,  the  Usher 
of  the  Lords,  where  he  had  for  some  time  been  in  custody, 
to  his  closer  prison  in  the  Tower.  The  rabble  hooted  him 

through  Cheapside  and  as  far  as  the  Tower-gates. By  that 

time  the  Commons  had  marked  or  struck  down  most  of  the 
other  prime  delinquents.  Six  or  seven  of  the  Judges,  against 
whom  there  were  charges  of  misconduct,  had  been  formally 
accused  and  held  to  bail.  Wren,  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  Pierce, 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  with  two  or  three  other  church- 
men who  had  been  especially  rigorous  in  prosecuting  the 
Puritans,  had  also  been  accused  and  threatened. 

Much  of  all  this  was  merely  in  terrorem.  Even  in  sending 
Laud  to  the  Tower  there  was  no  settled  purpose  against  the 
old  man's  life.  It  was  enough  that  he  and  a  few  others,  who 
might  have  been  able  to  organize  an  opposition  to  the  new 
course  of  affairs,  should  be  put  effectually  hors  de  combat. 
Only  in  the  case  of  Strafford  was  there  a  determination  for 
more. 

The  trial  of  Strafford  was  for  several  months  the  all- 
engrossing  subject  of  public  interest.  Many  pages  would  be 
required  for  all  the  particulars  of  that  superlative  story. 

1  House  of  Commons  order  in  S.  P.  0.  flight  and  its  difficulties.      There  are 

of    date  Dec.    1,    for   examination  of  subsequent  letters  from  France,  from 

Windebank  on  the  morrow  ;  and  Letter  Reade  and  Windebank  himself,  telling 

of   Reade,    of   date    "Calais  T^   Dec.  the  sad  straits  to  which  they  were  put 

1640,"  in  the  S.  P.  0.,  describing  the  in  their  exile,  and  asking  remittances. 


1640-41.]  STRAFFORD'S  TRIAL.  179 

Three  whole  kingdoms,  as  the  historian  May  says,  were  the 
accusers.  It  was  the  long  labour  of  a  committee  of  twelve 
of  the  Commons,  headed  by  Pyin,  and  including  Hampden, 
Selden,  and  Whitlocke,  to  prepare  the  first  indictment. 
Scotland,  through  her  commissioners,  and  Ireland,  through 
accusers  who  came  over  for  the  purpose,  contributed  infor- 
mation which  swelled  the  indictment  to  a  total  of  eight-and- 
twenty  articles.  On  Monday,  the  22nd  of  March  1640-41, 
the  trial  began,  and  it  was  continued  for  fourteen  days 
without  interruption.  As  one  walks  now  in  the  noble  Hall 
of  Westminster,  and  thinks  of  the  many  great  scenes  of 
English  History  which  those  massive  walls,  that  vast  pave- 
ment, and  that  high  arched  roof  have  witnessed,  one  remem- 
bers most  of  all  that  here  the  Earl  of  Strafford  was  tried. 
One  can  imagine  still  the  Hall  as  it  was  fitted  up  for  that 
occasion.  The  farther  end  of  it  was  converted  into  a  great 
stage,  with  seats  of  green  frieze,  whereon  sat  the  Peers  as 
Straffbrd's  judges,  in  their  robes  of  crimson  and  ermine, 
with  Arundel,  as  High  Steward,  on  the  woolsack.  Behind 
this  stage  were  little  trellised  rooms  for  the  King,  the  Queen, 
and  the  Court  ladies,  in  one  of  which  the  King  was  often 
seen  anxiously  taking  notes.  In  the  middle  of  the  Hall, 
in  a  space  at  the  end  of  the  stage,  was  the  prisoner  himself, 
dressed  in  black,  in  the  custody  of  the  Keeper  of  the  Tower, 
with  his  counsel  and  secretaries  about  him ;  and  in  the  same 
space  stood  the  witnesses  as  they  were  summoned,  and  the 
committee  of  the  Commons  and  others  managing  the  prose- 
cution. The  rest  of  the  Hall,  from  the  stage  to  the  door, 
was  nearly  filled  with  the  Commons,  with  their  heads  un- 
covered, seated  on  rows  of  benches  rising  lengthwise  from  the 
floor  upwards  to  the  walls.  To  the  Scottish  and  Irish  com- 
missioners and  other  privileged  persons  were  assigned  the* 
two  highest  benches,  railed  off  from  the  Commons;  and 
there  was  a  miscellaneous  audience  in  galleries,  or  other 
spare  places,  including  many  ladies.  The  proceedings  began 
every  morning  at  eight  o'clock,  by  which  time  Strafford  had 
been  brought  from  the  Tower  in  a  barge ;  but  such  was  the 
crush  that  it  was  necessary  for  all  but  the  highly  privileged 


180  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

to  be  in  their  places  by  five  o'clock.  After  that  hour  no 
egress  was  possible  till  between  two  and  four  in  the  afternoon, 
when  the  day's  business  usually  closed.  "  It  was  daily/' 
says  Baillie,  who  was  present,  "  the  most  glorious  assembly 
"  the  Isle  could  afford ;  yet  the  gravity  not  such  as  I 
"  expected.  Oft  great  clamour  without  about  the  doors ;  in 
"  the  intervals,  while  Strafford  was  making  ready  for  answers, 
"  the  Lords  got  always  to  their  feet,  walked  and  clattered, — 
"  the  Lower  House  men  too  loud  clattering;  after  ten 
"  hours  much  public  eating,  not  only  of  confections,  but  of 
"  flesh  and  bread, — bottles  of  beer  and  wine  going  thick  from 
"  mouth  to  mouth  without  cups ;  and  all  this  in  the  King's 
"  eye."  Of  the  ladies  present,  most  of  whom,  "  moved  by 
pity  proper  to  their  sex,"  took  Strafford's  side,  not  a  few, 
says  May,  "  had  pen,  ink,  and  paper  in  their  hands,  noting 
"  the  passages,  and  discoursing  upon  the  grounds  of  law  and 
"  state."  And  so,  for  fourteen  full  days,  the  trial  went  on. 
Among  the  host  of  witnesses,  English,  Scottish,  and  Irish, 
that  had  been  examined,  were  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton, 
Bishop  Juxon,  the  Earls  of  Northumberland,  Holland,  and 
Berkshire,  Lord  Conway,  the  elder  Vane,  and  other  Privy 
Councillors,  all  released  on  the  occasion  by  the  King  from 
their  oath  of  secrecy.  At  length,  all  the  twenty-eight  articles 
of  the  impeachment  having  been  gone  through,  there  remained 
only  the  final  speeches  for  the  defence  and  the  prosecution. 

At  this  point  (April  8)  there  occurred  a  break  in  the  pro- 
ceedings, favourable  to  Strafford.  Granted  that  all  the  alleged 
acts  of  the  indictment  were  proved,  argued  Strafford  and  his 
counsel,  was  it  possible  to  bring  any  of  them,  or  all  together, 
within  the  very  precise  definition  of  treason  by  the  Statute 
of  Treason  passed  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  ?  Was  any 
such  generality  as  "  subverting  or  endeavouring  to  subvert 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom  "  recognised  among  the 
treasons  of  that  statute,  or  was  the  life  of  a  subject  to  be 
sacrificed  to  a  mere  theory  of  "  constructive  treason,"  by 
which  a  series  of  acts  not  treasonous  individually  might  be 
regarded  as  treason  in  their  sum  ?  To  help  the  Commons 
through  this  difficulty  there  was  revealed  to  them  at  the  last 


1640-41.1  STRAFFORD'S  TRIAL.  181 

moment,  by  the  younger  Sir  Henry  Vane,  a  startling  piece  of 
new  evidence  which  he  had  had  in  his  possession  for  some 
time.  This  was  a  memorandum  in  his  father's  handwriting, 
accidentally  found  by  him  among  his  father's  papers,  and 
purporting  to  be  a  "  copy  of  notes  taken  at  a  junto  of  the 
Privy  Council  for  Scots  affairs  about  the  5th  of  May  last." 
In  a  conversation  in  which  the  King,  Strafford,  Laud,  and 
Cottington  were  the  speakers,  Strafford,  according  to  this 
memorandum,  had  then  given  the  King  the  following  advice 
with  reference  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Short  Parliament  then 
resolved  on:  "Your  Majesty  having  tried  the  affection  of 
"  your  people,  you  are  absolved  and  loose  from  all  rule  of 
"  government,  and  to  do  what  power  will  admit.  Your 
"  Majesty,  having  tried  all  ways  and  being  refused,  shall  be 
"  acquitted  before  God  and  man ;  and  you  have  an  army  in 
"  Ireland  that  you  may  employ  to  reduce  this  kingdom  to 
"  obedience,  for  I  am  confident  the  Scots  cannot  hold  out 
"  five  months."  The  appearance  of  this  new  piece  of  evi- 
dence, and  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  it,  placing  the  two 
Vanes  in  such  a  strange  relation  to  one  another,  caused  pro- 
found sensation.  Glynn,  on  the  part  of  the  prosecution, 
applied  for  a  re-opening  of  the  evidence  on  the  23rd  article 
of  the  impeachment,  with  a  view  to  fortify  it  with  the  new 
proof.  To  this  there  was  demur  on  the  part  of  Strafford's 
counsel,  unless  they  should  have  liberty  to  re-open  the  case, 
on  their  side,  not  only  on  that  article,  but  on  any  or  all.  The 
Lords  favouring  the  view  of  Strafford's  counsel,  there  was  an 
extraordinary  excitement  among  the  Commons.  They  rose 
(April  10)  in  a  fury  on  both  sides  of  the  Hall,  putting  on 
their  hats  and  calling  out  "Withdraw,"  "Withdraw."  One 
or  two  adjournments,  with  separate  meetings  of  the  two 
Houses,  and  conferences  between  them,  followed.  The  result 
was  that  the  trial  was  permitted  to  exhaust  itself,  after  the  mere 
production  of  Vane's  notes  in  Court,  but  without  fresh  exami- 
nation of  witnesses,  on  the  13th  of  April;  on  which  day 
Strafford  made  his  last  speech  in  defence,  and  Glynn  and  Pym 
concluded  in  reply.  For  by  this  time  it  had  been  resolved 
not  to  trust  to  the  trial  in  that  form,  but  to  resort  to  another 


182  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

mode  of  procedure,  of  which  there  had  been  the  option  from 
the  first. 

From  the  first  the  Commons  had  had  the  choice  of  two 
methods  of  bringing  such  a  state-criminal  to  justice.  There 
was  the  ordinary  method  by  Impeachment,  in  which  they 
should  be  the  accusers  and  the  Peers  the  judges ;  and  there 
was  the  less  ordinary  method  of  procedure  by  Bill  of  Attain- 
der, by  which  the  Commons  might  themselves  judge  and 
condemn  Strafford  as  a  public  enemy,  and  then  send  up  the 
Bill  to  be  passed  or  rejected  by  the  Lords  and  the  Crown,  like 
any  other  Bill.  This  second  method,  constitutional  authorities 
now  assert,  would  have  been  the  more  proper  in  a  case  like 
Stafford's  ;  and  the  other  method  had  been  preferred  chiefly 
because  it  did  not  require  the  King's  co-operation,  as  a  Bill 
of  Attainder  would.  But,  the  procedure  by  Impeachment 
having  run  aground,  the  Commons  now  resorted  to  the 
alternative  method  in  order  to  make  sure.  A  Bill  of  Attain- 
der was  brought  in  on  the  10th  of  April,  the  very  day  when 
the  Commons  had  begun  to  fear  a  frustration  of  the  trial. 

1 1  took  a  whole  month  to  reach  the  conclusion  by  this  new 
route.  Bead  a  second  time  on  the  14th  of  April,  the  Bill  was 
carried  in  the  Commons  on  the  21st  by  204  votes  against  59. 
This  minority  of  fifty-nine  consisted  by  no  means  of  men  who 
desired  to  see  Strafford  escape  punishment,  but  only  of  men 
who  could  nob  make  up  their  minds  to  the  extreme  vote  for 
his  death.  In  the  passage  of  the  Bill  through  the  Upper 
House  it  naturally  encountered  more  of  this  anxiety  to  be 
merciful.  Nay,  the  King  himself  interposed.  Paying  a  visit 
to  the  Lords  on  the  1st  of  May,  he  made  an  appeal  to  them 
not  to  send  the  Bill  up  to  him  precisely  as  it  stood.  "  In  my 
"  conscience,"  he  said,  "  I  cannot  condemn  him  of  high  treason  ; 
"  yet  I  cannot  say  I  can  clear  him  of  misdemeanour ;  therefore 
"  I  hope  that  you  may  find  a  way  to  satisfy  justice  and  your 
"  own  fears,  and  not  to  press  upon  my  conscience.  My  lords, 
"  I  hope  you  know  what  a  tender  thing  conscience  is.  ... 
"  I  must  confess,  for  matter  of  Misdemeanour,  I  am  so  clear 
"  in  that,  that,  though  I  will  not  chalk  out  the  way,  yet  let 
"  me  tell  you  I  do  think  my  Lord  Strafford  is  not  fit  hereafter 


1640-41.]  STRAFFORD'S  DOOM.  183 

"  either  to  serve  me  or  the  Commonwealth  in  any  place  of 
"  trust,  no  not  so  much  as  that  of  a  constable."  What  might 
have  been  the  result  of  this  appeal,  acting  on  the  hesitating 
dispositions  of  the  Lords,  needs  not  now  be  inquired.  At  the 
very  moment  when  it  was  made,  there  was  a  discovery  whicli 
frustrated  it  It  was  the  discovery  of  an  "  Army-Plot," — in 
other  words,  of  a  plot  in  which  the  little  group  of  Army-men 
in  the  Commons,  whom  we  have  named  together  in  our  account 
of  the  composition  of  the  Parliament,  had  been  engaged  along 
with  the  poets  Suckling  and  Davenant,  and  one  or  two  more, 
and  not  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Queen.  The  aim  of  the 
plot  was  to  bring  up  part  of  the  English  army  from  Yorkshire 
to  overawe  the  Parliament,  or  at  all  events  to  make  an  attempt 
upon  the  Tower  for  Strafford's  release.  The  plot  having  been 
discovered,  and  those  concerned  in  it  having  fled,  the  conse- 
quent indignation  of  the  two  Houses,  backed  by  a  wild 
tumult  in  London,  and  cries  of  "Justice,  Justice"  from 
excited  mobs  in  the  streets,  was  fatal  to  Strafford.  Knowing 
this,  and  that  an  attempt  to  bribe  the  Lieutenant  of  the 
Tower  had  failed,  he  himself  wrote,  on  the  4th  of  May,  to 
the  King,  expressing  resignation  to  his  fate,  and  only  recom- 
mending his  four  young  children  to  his  Majesty's  protection. 
On  the  8th  the  Bill  of  Attainder  passed  the  Lords  in  a  thin 
House.  All  then  depended  on  the  King. 

It  is  not  for  a  historian  to  be  very  ready  with  opinions  as 
to  what  a  king,  or  any  other  person,  might,  could,  or  should 
have  done  on  this  or  that  occasion.  But  here  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  All  the  sophistication  in  the  world  cannot  make 
a  doubt.  If  ever  there  may  be  a  moment  in  a  man's  life  when, 
with  all  the  clamour  of  a  nation  urging  to  an  act,  all  personal 
and  State  reasons  persuading  to  it  as  expedient,  and  all  the 
pressure  of  circumstances  impelling  to  it  as  inevitable,  still 
even  they  who  would  approve  of  the  act  in  itself  must  declare 
that  for  that  man  to  do  it  were  dastardly,  such  a  moment  had 
come  for  Charles.  To  dare  all,  to  see  London  and  England  in 
uproar,  to  lose  throne,  life,  and  everything,  rather  than  assent 
to  the  death  of  his  minister,  was  Charles's  plain  duty.  Strafford 
had  been  his  ablest  minister  by  far,  had  laboured  for  him  with 


184  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

heart  and  head,  had  made  the  supremacy  of  the  Crown  the 
cause  of  his  life ;  not  an  act  he  had  done,  one  may  say,  but 
was  with  Charles's  consent,  or  his  implied  command  and 
approbation  ;  and  it  was  in  trust  in  all  this,  and  in  the  royal 
promise  that  "  not  a  hair  of  his  head  should  be  touched," 
that  Strafford,  against  his  own  better  judgment,  had  run  the 
risk  of  coming  to  London.  If  the  words  "  honour  "  and 
"  fidelity  "  have  any  meaning,  there  was  but  one  right  course 
for  the  King.  How  did  he  behave  ?  On  Sunday  the  9th  of 
May  he  had  a  consultation  with  Juxon,  Usher,  and  Williams, 
as  spiritual  advisers,  and  with  his  Privy  Councillors  generally, 
respecting  his  scruples  of  conscience.  Juxon  and  Usher  gave 
him  the  manly  advice  that,  if  his  conscience  did  not  consent 
to  the  act,  he  ought  not  to  do  it ;  but  Williams  drew  some  dis- 
tinction or  other  between  "  public  conscience  "  and  "  private 
conscience."  The  sophistry  helped  Charles.  He  appointed  a 
commission,  consisting  of  Arundel  and  other  lords,  to  give  his 
assent  to  the  Bill  the  next  day.  On  the  llth,  however,  he 
sent  the  young  Prince  of  Wales  to  the  Lords  with  a  last 
message  in  Strafford's  behalf.  It  would  be  "  an  unspeakable 
contentment,"  he  said,  if  the  Lords  and  Commons  would  agree 
to  change  Strafford's  punishment  into  close  imprisonment  for 
life,  on  pain  of  death  without  farther  process  on  the  least 
attempt  to  escape  or  to  communicate  with  the  King.  "  If  no 
less  than  his  life  can  satisfy  my  people,"  the  letter  ended,  "  I 
must  say  Fiat  justitia  "  ;  and  then  there  was  a  postscript,  sug- 
gesting at  least  a  reprieve  till  Saturday.  Neither  request  was 
granted;  and  on  Wednesday,  the  12th  of  May,  that  proud 
curly  head,  the  casket  of  that  brain  of  power,  rolled  on  the 
scaffold  on  Tower  Hill.1 

Among  those  who  were  most  zealous  in  the  prosecution  of 
Strafford,  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  were  not  only  the  men 

1  The  most  vivid  account  of  Straf-  (for  some  interesting  particulars,  de- 
ford's  trial  is  undoubtedly  Baillie's  (I.  rived  from  D'Ewes's  notes),  Mr.  Fors- 
314—350) ;  but  Kushworth,  besides  the  ter's  essay  "The  Civil  Wars  and  Oliver 
references  to  it  in  his  general  collections,  Cromwell  "in  his  Historical  and  Bio- 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  distinct  folio  graphical  Essays,  I.  252 — 262.  See  also 
volume.  But  see  also  Hallam's  Const.  Clarendon,  72 — 104,  and  Whitlocke 
History,  the  Parliamentary  History,  and  (edit.  1853),  I.  121—133. 


1640-41.]       MEASURES  FOR  SECURITY  OF  PARLIAMENT.  185 

whom  we  are  accustomed  now  to  think  of  as  the  chiefs  of  the 
Revolution,  but  many  also  whom  we  remember  mainly  as 
Royalists.  Of  the  fifty-nine  "  Straffordians,"  as  they  were 
called,  who  voted  against  his  death  in  the  Commons,  and 
would  have  been  content  with  some  less  punishment,  the 
leader  was  Lord  Digby ;  and  Selden,  Holborn,  and  Sidney 
Godolphin  were  of  the  number.  But  the  list  did  not  include 
Hyde,  or  Falkland,  or  Colepepper.  It  was  Hyde,  too,  that  was 
sent  up  to  the  Lords  from  the  Commons  to  demand  a  stricter 
guard  over  Strafford  in  the  Tower  after  the  discovery  of 
the  Army -Plot.  Hyde  would,  indeed,  have  gratified  the 
King  at  the  last  by  consenting  to  the  imprisonment  and 
degradation  of  Strafford  instead  of  his  capital  punishment ; 
and  he  tells  a  story  of  a  pleading  he  held  on  this  subject  one 
day  in  Piccadilly  with  the  Earls  of  Bedford  and  Essex,  when 
Bedford  was  not  unwilling  to  agree,  but  Essex  stopped  the 
conversation  by  signifying  that  his  mind  was  made  up,  and 
adding  emphatically,  "  Stone-dead  hath  no  fellow."  In 
fact,  the  death  of  Strafford  was  an  act  not  of  this  or  that 
party  in  the  Parliament,  but  of  the  Parliament  as  a  whole. 
The  feeling  of  the  most  moderate  seems  to  have  been  very 
much  that  expressed  at  the  time  in  the  first  lines  of  a  rougli 
epitaph  on  Strafford  by  the  Royalist  poet  Cleveland  :— 

"  Here  lies  wise  and  valiant  dust, 
Huddled  up  'twixt  fit  and  just." 

III.  MEASURES  FOR  THE  SECURITY  AND  PERPETUATION  OF 
PARLIAMENT. — What  if  the  King,  summoning  up  courage,  or 
availing  himself  of  some  unexpected  turn  of  affairs,  should 
dissolve  this  Parliament,  as  he  had  dissolved  its  predecessors  ? 
All  then  would  be  in  vain,  all  would  be  flung  back.  Accord- 
ingly, in  Pym's  very  first  speech,  he  had  put  this  matter  of  the 
security  of  Parliament  in  the  foreground.  Not  only  must 
there  be  full  liberty  of  discussion,  exemption  from  arrest  and 
the  like,  for  the  members  of  this  Parliament ;  it  must  also  be 
secured  against  abrupt  dissolution.  Nay,  more  than  that,  this 
Parliament  must  arrange,  if  possible,  for  a  guaranteed  succes- 
sion of  Parliaments  for  the  future,  and  so  transmit  a  permaii- 


186  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

ent  agency  that  should  render  impossible  in  future  generations 
any  such  tyranny  as  that  under  which  the  existing  generation 
laboured.  The  deliberations  on  this  important  subject  took 
shape  at  last  in  the  famous  Bill  for  Triennial  Parliaments 
passed  in  the  Commons  Jan.  20,  1640-41,  and  which,  after 
passing  the  Lords,  received  the  King's  reluctant  assent  on  the 
16th  of  February.  By  this  Bill,  strongly  urged  by  Cromwell 
and  Strode,  and  one  of  the  most  strenuous  supporters  of  which 
was  Lord  Digby,  it  was  provided  that,  if  the  King  did  not 
summon  a  Parliament  every  third  year  at  least,  then  the  Lord 
Chancellor  or  Lord  Keeper  should  be  bound  to  issue  writs  for 
a  new  Parliament,  or  it  should  be  lawful  for  any  twelve  Peers 
to  issue  writs  in  the  King's  name,  or  for  the  mayors,  sheriffs, 
&c.,  or  for  the  citizens  themselves,  to  cause  elections  to  be 
made  as  if  such  writs  had  been  issued ;  and  it  was  also  pro- 
vided that  no  Parliament  should  be  dissolved  or  prorogued, 
unless  with  its  own  consent,  until  after  it  had  sat  at  least  fifty 
days.  By  the  very  terms  of  this  Bill  it  is  evident  that  the 
Parliament  then  sitting  might  have  been  legally  dissolved  at 
the  time  the  Bill  was  passed.  It  had  then  sat  more  than 
three  months.  There  seemed  no  likelihood,  however,  at  that 
time,  that  the  King  would  resort  to  such  a  course.  But,  as 
Strafford's  trial  went  on,  and  especially  after  the  discovery  of 
the  Army-Plot  had  spread  alarm  among  the  Commons,  the 
Parliament  became  more  suspicious.  On  the  3rd  of  May 
1641,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  commotion  caused  by  the 
discovery  of  the  Army-Plot,  the  Commons  adopted  a  Pro- 
testation, or  Resolution  for  the  Common  Safety,  which  was  very 
much  like  a  copy  of  the  Scottish  Covenant  in  miniature. 
The  document  ran  as  follows :  "  I,  A.  B.,  do,  in  the  presence 
"  of  Almighty  God,  promise,  vow,  and  protest  to  maintain 
"  and  defend,  as  far  as  I  lawfully  may,  with  my  life,  power, 
"  and  estate,  the  true  reformed  Protestant  Eeligion  expressed 
"  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  .  .  .  also  the 
"  power  and  privilege  of  Parliaments,  .  .  .  and,  further, 
"  that  I  shall,  in  all  just  and  honourable  ways,  endeavour  to 
"  preserve  the  union  and  peace  betwixt  the  three  kingdoms 
"  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland."  On  the  very  day  on 


1640-41.]  MISCELLANEOUS  REFORMS.  187 

which  the  Protestation  was  drawn  up,  it  was  signed  by  429  of 
the  Commons,  Digby,  Selden,  Colepepper,  and  Falkland  among 
them ;  on  being  sent  to  the  Lords,  it  was  signed  by  upwards 
of  one  hundred  in  that  House,  including  fifteen  bishops ;  and 
it  was  then  circulated  through  the  shires,  that  it  might  be 
signed  by  the  whole  nation.  Nor  was  this  enough,  nor  was 
it  even  enough  that  the  Parliament  arranged  to  have  a  trusty 
guard  at  hand  near  the  Houses  in  case  of  danger.  Amid  the 
same  excitement  caused  by  the  Army-Plot  there  was  intro- 
duced into  the  Commons,  on  the  6th  of  May,  a  Bill,  enacting 
that  the  existing  Parliament  should  not  be  dissolved  at  all  except 
with  its  own  consent.  This  extraordinary  measure,  trenching 
more  deeply  on  the  rules  of  the  English  constitution  than  any 
other  that  the  Long  Parliament  adopted  in  its  earlier  stage, 
was  eagerly  supported  by  Colepepper,  Falkland,  and  Hyde. 
The  Lords  would  have  amended  the  Bill  by  limiting  its 
duration  to  two  years ;  but,  the  Commons  adhering  to  the  Bill 
as  it  stood,  it  passed  both  Houses  on  the  8th.  That  Charles 
should  have  assented  to  this  Bill,  which,  in  terms  at  least, 
"  rendered  the  House  of  Commons,"  as  Hallam  says,  "  inde- 
pendent of  their  sovereign  and  their  constituents,"  can  be 
accounted  for,  that  writer  suggests,  only  "  by  his  own  shame 
and  the  Queen's  consternation  at  the  discovery  of  the  late 
Plot."  He  did  assent  to  it  (May  10),  empowering  the  same 
Commissioners  to  pass  it  whom  he  had  empowered  to 
pass  the  Bill  condemning  Straffbrd.  Thus  the  Parliament, 
which  met  Nov.  3,  1640,  was  converted  into  "The  Long 
Parliament,"  indissoluble  except  by  its  own  act1 

IV.  MISCELLANEOUS  CIVIL  KEFORMS  AND  REDRESS  OF 
GRIEVANCES. — In  his  first  set  speech  in  the  Parliament 
(Nov.  7,  1640)  Pym  had  made  a  masterly  enumeration  and 
analysis  of  the  grievances  of  the  country.  This  speech,  in 
fact,  was  the  programme  of  the  Session.  To  overtake  the 
main  grievances  individually,  however,  was  a  work  of  time. 
The  Ship-money  grievance  was  among  the  first  discussed. 
Mr.  St.  John  1  mving  presented  the  report  of  a  committee  on 

i  1'arl.  Ili-t.  II.  702  rf  tto. ;  Ruahworth,  IV.  244—258;  Hallnm's  Conat  Hint. 
(10th  edit),  II.  112  et*q. 


188  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  subject  on  the  7th  of  December,  resolutions  declaring  the 
tax  illegal,  and  annulling  the  judgment  that  had  been  given  in 
Hampden's  case,  were  unanimously  adopted,  Lord  Falkland 
being  one  of  the  most  emphatic  speakers  in  their  favour ;  and 
by  this  and  subsequent  proceedings,  in  which  the  Lords  took 
part,  the  grievance  of  Ship-money  was  swept  out  of  the 
Statute  Book.  There  was  also,  of  course,  a  raid  against  the 
swarming  monopolies  by  which  Charles,  to  raise  money  for 
the  Crown,  had  crippled  and  molested  the  trade  of  the  nation. 
Pym  had  broken  this  ground  at  the  outset ;  but  perhaps  the 
most  effective  in  his  denunciations  of  monopolies  was  Cole- 
pepper.  "  These,  like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,"  he  said,  "  have 
"  gotten  the  possession  of  our  dwellings,  and  we  have  scarce  a 
"  room  free  from  them.  They  sup  in  our  cup,  they  dip  in  our 
"  dish,  they  sit  by  our  fire  ;  we  find  them  in  the  dye- vat,  wash- 
"  bowl,  and  powdering-tub  ;  they  share  with  the  butler  in  his 
"  box ;  they  have  marked  and  sealed  us  from  head  to  foot." 
As  far  as  the  crude  Political  Economy  of  those  days  per- 
mitted, monopolies  also  were  swept  away,  the  patent  for 
wines  and  the  soap-monopoly  among  the  first.  The  abolition 
of  the  Court  of  Starchamber  and  the  Court  of  High  Com- 
mission was  harder  to  accomplish ;  but  an  Act  to  which  the 
King  gave  his  assent  July  5,  1641,  virtually  abolished  both. 
The  regulation  of  Tonnage  and  Poundage  was  the  subject  of 
a  vote  passed  June  22,  1641,  by  which  it  was  declared  that 
"  it  is  and  has  been  the  ancient  right  of  the  subjects  of  this 
"  realm  that  no  subsidy,  custom,  impost,  or  any  charge  what- 
"  soever  ought  to  be  laid  or  imposed  upon  any  merchandise 
"  exported  or  imported  by  subjects,  denizens,  or  aliens,  without 
"  the  common  consent  of  Parliament."  The  Act  is  memorable 
as  being,  according  to  Hallam,  "  the  last  statute  that  has  been 
"  found  necessary  to  restrain  the  Crown  from  arbitrary  taxa- 
"  tion."  Finally,  by  various  Acts  in  the  first  nine  months  of 
the  Paliament,  several  anomalous  jurisdictions,  the  effect  of 
which  had  been  to  "  deprive  one-third  of  England  of  the 
privileges  of  the  Common  Law,"  were  either  utterly  abolished 
or  made  innocuous.  Among  these  were  the  Court  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Council  of  Wales,  the  Court  of  the  President  and 


1640-41.]  THE  SCOTTISH  TREATY.  189 

Council  of  the  North,  and  the  Courts  of  the  Duchy  of  Lan- 
caster and  the  County  Palatine  of  Chester.1 

V.  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  TREATY. — How  was  it, 
the  reader  may  have  naturally  been  asking,  that  the  Parlia- 
ment was  able  to  carry  all  before  it  in  this  fashion  ?  How 
was  it  that  Charles  found  himself  so  suddenly  bound  hand 
and  foot,  and  hurried  along  like  a  log  in  the  current  ?  That 
the  English  nation  was  roused  from  end  to  end,  and  ready  in 
the  mass  to  rally  round  its  Parliament,  is  true.  But  there  was 
a  more  distinct  and  visible  cause  of  the  weakness  of  Charles 
and  of  the  strength  of  Parliament  during  those  nine  important 
months.  That  Scottish  Army,  the  victorious  presence  of  which 
in  the  North  of  England  had  led  to  the  assembling  of  the 
Parliament,  and  had  been  hailed  so  gladly  by  the  English  as 
furnishing  them  the  required  opportunity  for  self-liberation, 
WU  still  in  the  North  of  England  to  serve  its  purpose,  and 
was  willing  to  stay  there  as  long  as  it  might  be  wanted. 
Negotiations,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  begun  between 
Charles  and  that  Army,  with  a  view  to  its  return  home ;  but, 
at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,  these 
negotiations  had  got  no  farther  than  a  certain  preliminary 
treaty  or  truce  of  thirteen  Articles  agreed  upon  at  Ripon 
(Oct.  16).  One  of  those  Articles  provided  that  the  Scottish 
army  should  remain  in  England,  to  be  paid  from  the  English 
Exchequer  at  the  rate  of  850/.  a  day,  until  the  Treaty  should 
be  brought  to  completion  ;  and,  in  order  to  the  completion  of 
the  Treaty,  it  had  been  agreed  that  the  Scottish  Commis- 
sioners should  come  to  London,  there  to  continue  the  nego- 
tiation with  the  English  Lords  Commissioners. 

Leslie's  Scottish  Army,  then,  still  remained  in  and  about 
Newcastle,  not  only  occupying  the  attention  of  the  broken 
relics  of  Charles's  English  Army  in  Yorkshire,  so  as  to  make 
that  army  useless  for  any  private  purpose  of  his  Majesty,  but 
actually  taken  into  the  service  of  the  English  Liberals,  if  we 
may  so  say,  by  a  retaining  fee.  There  was  a  perfect  under- 
standing on  the  subject  between  the  Scottish  leaders  and  the 
of  the  English  Liberals.  The  Scots,  on  their 

•  Part.  History,  II.  639  ft  *q. 


190  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

were  willing,  for  neighbourly  benevolence,  the  interests  of  true 
religion,  and  8  5  01  a  day,  to  remain  in  England,  so  long  as 
the  English  thought  fit ;  and  it  was  for  the  English  Parlia- 
ment to  contrive  that  their  stay  should  not  be  too  soon  brought 
to  an  end.  The  expense,  indeed,  was  considerable.  Besides 
the  850/.  per  diem  to  the  Scots,  there  was  the  accompanying 
expense  of  the  maintenance  of  the  residue  of  the  English 
army  in  Yorkshire,  which  could  hardly,  for  shame's  sake,  be 
disbanded  while  an  army  nominally  of  invaders  was  on  the 
English  soil.  But  what  was  even  such  a  double  bill  running 
on,  compared  with  what  it  could  purchase  ?  The  Parliament 
was  content,  says  May, "  to  be  at  so  great  a  charge  rather  than 
suffer  the  Scots  to  go  till  businesses  were  better  settled." 
Accordingly,  utterly  ignoring  and  even  resenting  the  hints 
given  them  by  Charles  and  by  .Lord  Keeper  Finch,  in  their 
speeches  at  the  opening  of  the  Houses,  that  their  first  business 
ought  to  be  "  the  chasing  out  of  the  rebels,"  the  Parliament 
studiously  contrived  for  as  long  a  stay  of  the  Scots  as  possible. 
The  immediate  conduct  of  the  Scottish  Treaty,  indeed,  did  not 
lie  with  Parliament,  but  with  the  sixteen  English  Lords  Com- 
missioners whom  the  King  had  appointed.  It  was  for  those 
Lords  Commissioners,  acting  for  the  King,  to  continue  the 
negotiations  with  the  Scottish  Commissioners,  viz.  the  Earls  of 
Eothes  and  Dunfermline,  Lord  Loudoun,  Sir  Patrick  Hep- 
burn, Sir  William  Douglas,  Drurnmond  of  Eiccarton,  Bailie 
Smith,  Burgesses  Wedderburn  and  Kennedy,  Alexander 
Henderson,  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston, — all  of  whom  had 
come  up  to  London  for  the  purpose.  But,  besides  that  most 
of  the  English  Commissioners  were  among  the  liberal  leaders 
in  Parliament,  there  were  means  by  which  Parliament  could 
directly  control  the  negotiations.  It  was  for  the  Commons  to 
pay  the  bill ;  and  their  policy  was  to  be  in  no  hurry  to  pay  it. 
They  undertook  at  once  to  be  responsible  for  the  850/.  per  day, 
so  as  to  extend  the  truce  of  Eipon  beyond  the  16th  of  Decem- 
ber, which  was  its  original  term;  and,  in  addition  to  this, 
they  voted,  on  the  3rd  of  February,  a  farther  indemnity  of 
300,000/.  to  be  paid  to  "our  brethren  of  Scotland"  in  con- 
sideration of  their  losses  by  the  late  war.  But  the  indemnity, 


1640-41.]  SCOTTISH  COMMISSIONERS  IN  LONDON.  191 

though  voted,  was  not  raised,  and  Parliament,  while  sending 
tin-  Scots  sums  on  account,  left  the  debt  running  on. 

The  presence  of  the  Scottish  Commissioners  in  London 
for  so  long  a  period  (Nov.  1640 — June  1641)  was  important 
in  more  ways  than  one.  In  order  that  Henderson  might  not 
be  the  only  representative  of  the  Scottish  clerical  element  in 
the  Commission,  there  had  been  associated  with  it,  but  non- 
officially,  three  other  eminent  Presbyterian  ministers, — Kobert 
Baillie,  Robert  Blair,  and  young  George  Gillespie.  The 
reception  of  the  Scottish  visitors,  fourteen  in  all,  by  the 
Londoners  had  been  extremely  cordial.  Lodgings  had  been 
provided  for  them  first  in  Covent  Garden  ;  but  the  Corporation 
insisted  on  having  them,  or  at  least  most  of  them,  as  their 
own  special  guests.  Accordingly,  during  the  entire  period  of 
their  stay  in  London,  Henderson,  Baillie,  Blair,  and  Gillespie, 
with  some  at  least  of  the  lay-commissioners,  lived  in  the  city, 
hospitably  lodged  and  entertained  at  the  expense  of  the  Cor- 
poration. The  Commissioners  were  lodged,  Clarendon  tells  us, 
"  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  near  London  Stone,  in  a  house  which 
"  used  to  be  inhabited  by  the  Lord  Mayor  or  one  of  the  sheriffs, 
"  and  was  situated  so  near  the  church  of  St.  Antholin's  that 
"  there  was  a  way  out  of  it  into  the  gallery  of  the  church." 
This  church,  accordingly,  was  virtually  made  over  to  Hender- 
son, Baillie,  Blair,  and  Gillespie, — with  whom  there  were  also  a 
Mr.Borthwick  and  a  Mr.  Smith, — for  their  sermons  on  Sundays 
and  Thursdays.  "  To  hear  these  sermons,"  says  Clarendon, 
"  there  was  so  great  a  conflux  and  resort,  by  the  citizens  out 
"  of  humour  and  faction,  by  others  of  all  qualities  out  of 
"  curiosity,  and  by  some  that  they  might  the  better  justify 
"  the  contempt  they  had  of  them,  that,  from  the  first  appear- 
"  ance  of  day  in  the  morning  on  every  Sunday  to  the  shutting 
"  in  of  the  light,  the  church  was  never  empty."  The  sermons, 
though  probably  uncouth  at  first  to  the  English  ear  as  coming 
in  a  North -British  accent,  can  hardly  have  been  so  con- 
temptible in  their  Calvinistic  kind  as  Clarendon  super- 
ciliously imagined.  Henderson,  as  Mr.  Hyde  had  reason  to 
know,  was  a  man  of  as  massive  and  well-educated  an  intel- 
lect as  was  to  be  found  among  the  clergy  of  the  three  king- 


192  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

doms ;  and  Mr.  Eobert  Baillie  (though  Hyde  could  not  have 
known  this)  was  then  writing,  in  the  form  of  letters  to  friends, 
accounts  of  those  times  which,  though  in  Scottish  style  and 
full  of  Presbyterian  prejudice,  are  now  read  with  admiration 
for  a  graphic  power  of  narrative  to  which  there  is  hardly  a 
parallel  in  seventeenth-century  literature,  and  which  checks  and 
illustrates  even  the  superb  pages  of  a  certain  Lord  Clarendon. 

It  was  part  of  the  business  of  Henderson  and  his  colleagues 

not  only  to  enlighten  the  Londoners  as  to  the  proceedings  and 
claims  of  the  Scots,  but  also,  if  possible,  to  inoculate  them 
with  Presbyterian  sentiments.  For  the  same  purpose,  they 
were  in  frequent  consultation  with  the  English  Puritan 
ministers  of  the  city  and  neighbourhood.  They  and  the 
other  Commissioners  were  also  in  constant  intercourse  with 
the  Parliamentary  leaders  of  both  Houses.  Of  the  lay  com- 
missioners, Loudoun  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston  were  the 
most  active ;  for  the  Earl  of  Rothes,  whose  name  stood  first 
in  the  Commission,  and  who  had  been  to  this  time  perhaps 
the  most  conspicuous  of  the  Covenanters,  had  begun  to  yield 
to  Court-influences.  "  He  is  likely,"  writes  Baillie,  June  2, 
1641,  "  to  be  the  greatest  courtier  either  of  Scots  or  English. 
"  Likely,  he  will  take  a  place  in  the  Bedchamber  and  be  little 
"  more  a  Scottish  man.  If  he  please,  as  it  seems  he  inclines, 
"  he  may  have  my  lady  Devonshire,  a  very  wise  lady,  with 
"  4,0  OOZ.  sterling  a  year."  As  Rothes's  first  wife  had  died 
about  a  year  before,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  this  con- 
summation. It  would  have  given  Rothes  one  of  the  best  and 
most  sensible  women  in  England  for  his  wife,  made  him 
stepfather  to  the  young  Earl  of  Devonshire,  and  brought  him 
into  connexion  with  that  famous  attach^  of  the  Devonshire 
family,  Hobbes  the  philosopher,  the  tutor  of  both  this  Earl 
and  of  his  father.1 

It  was  not  till  June  1641  that  the  Parliament,  having  been 
informed  by  the  King  that  the  negotiations  of  the  Commis- 
sioners were  approaching  a  conclusion,  took  steps  for  per- 
mitting the  Scots  to  return  home.  On  the  1 8th  of  that  month 
there  was  passed  by  the  Commons  the  extraordinary  and  long- 

i  Baillie,  I.  269  et  seq.,  and  354  ;  Clarendon,  76,  77,  and  112. 


1640-41.]       THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH-REFORM  MOVEMENT.  193 

unheard-of  measure  of  a  Poll-tax  for  the  payment  of  the 
Scottish  arrears  and  indemnity.  By  this  tax  every  English 
male  person,  above  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  not  a  pauper,  was 
assessed  in  a  particular  sum,  by  a  graduated  scale  of  ranks. 
A  Duke  was  to  pay  100/. ;  a  Marquis  80/. ;  an  Earl  or 
Bishop  60/. ;  a  Viscount  50/. ;  a  Baron  or  Dean  40/. ;  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  London  40/. ;  the  Aldermen  of  London,  and  all 
Baronets,  Knights,  Judges,  Serjeants-at-Law,  King's  Counsel 
and  Canons-resident,  sums  ranging  from  30J.  to  20/.;  Esquires, 
Prebendaries,  Doctors  of  Law  or  of  Physic,  1 01.  each ;  Common 
Councilmen,  Liverymen  of  the  first  twelve  Companies,  and  all 
persons  of  100/.  a  year  income,  5/.  each ;  Liverymen  of  the 
other  Companies  21.  10s. ;  "  every  man  that  may  dispend  50/. 
per  annum"  II.  10s. ;  freemen  of  the  first  twelve  Companies 
II. ;  freemen  of  other  Companies,  and  merchant-strangers 
trading  by  sea,  10s.;  other  traders,  English  or  foreign,  and 
"  every  man  that  may  dispend  20J.  per  annum,"  5s. ;  ordinary 
English  householders,  2s.;  and  finally  every  handicraftsman,  or 
person  whatever,  above  sixteen  years  of  age,  not  a  pauper,  and 
not  included  in  the  foregoing  rates, "  6d.  per  poll,"  unless  he 
were  a  foreigner,  in  which  case,  if  a  Protestant,  he  should  pay 
2d.  only,  but  if  a  Papist,  4d.1  There  was  thus  brought  home 
very  effectively,  but  perhaps  somewhat  disagreeably,  to  every 
English  household  and  family,  the  sense  of  national  indebted- 
ness to  the  Scots ;  and,  having  nothing  more  to  do  in  London, 
Henderson,  Baillie,  and  others  of  the  Scottish  Commissioners, 
returned  home  (June  1641).  Certain  other  details  as  to  the 
times  and  mode  of  payment  had  to  be  arranged,  so  that  it 
was  not  till  August  that  the  Treaty  was  formally  signed 
and  the  two  armies  in  the  north  were  disbanded. 

THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH-REFORM  MOVEMENT. 

One  great  department  of  affairs  in  which,  while  the  Scottish 
Commissioners  had  been  in  London,  Parliament  had  been  pro- 
gressively active,  and  their  activity  in  which  had  mingled 

1  I   have  copied    the   rates   from  a       But  HOC  Common*'  Journal*,  June  18, 
printed  copy,  m  tho  8.  P.  0.,  of  the       1641. 
House  of  Commons  order  for  tho  tax. 

VOL.  II  0 


194  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

inextricably  from  day  to  day  and  week  to  week  with  all  their 
other  proceedings  as  hitherto  related,  had  been  that  of  Church 
Reformation.  Here  the  story  becomes  more  complex  ;  diver- 
sities of  opinion  and  tendency,  not  observed  hitherto  in  other 
departments,  present  themselves ;  and  we  come  in  sight  of 
problems  of  national  polity  which  even  to  our  own  day 
have  proved  insoluble. 

In  Pym's  first  great  speech  in  the  Parliament  he  had  made 
"  Prejudice  of  Eeligion  "  one  of  the  three  main  heads  in  his 
survey  of  the  grievances  of  the  nation.  "  Let  Eeligion  be  our 
primum  qucerite,  for  all  things  else  are  but  etceteras  to  it,"  the 
veteran  Rudyard  had  said  in  his  pious  speech  on  the  same 
occasion.  And  so,  from  the  first  day  onwards,  there  is  found, 
intermingled  with  the  general  debates,  an  amount  of  theo- 
logical discussion,  of  religious  observance  by  the  Parliament 
corporately,  and  of  reference  to  ecclesiastical  questions,  infinitely 
greater  than  has  been  usual  in  English  Parliaments  in  later 
times.  There  were  fast-days  by  Parliamentary  appointment ; 
there  were  arrangements  by  whbh  the  members  of  the  two 
Houses  might  partake  of  the  Communion  at  a  communion- 
table and  not  at  a  Laudian  altar ;  and  there  were  regular 
sermons  on  Sundays  and  on  fast-days  before  the  Commons 
by  select  Puritan  preachers.  Almost  immediately,  too,  the 
Houses,  and  especially  the  Commons,  broke  ground  by  specific 
enactments  intended  to  afford  relief  to  Puritan  consciences 
and  to  discourage  Laudism.  One  speedy  blow  at  the  Laudian 
party  collectively  was  in  connexion  with  the  conduct  of  the 
Clergy  in  the  preceding  spring,  when  they  had  presumed  to  sit 
in  Convocation  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Short  Parliament, 
and  to  frame  a  body  of  new  Ecclesiastical  Canons.  That  pro- 
cedure of  the  former  Convocation  having  really  brought  all 
concerned  within  the  reach  of  the  law,  the  new  Convocation 
which  met  at  the  same  time  as  the  Long  Parliament  was 
weak  and  pusillanimous  in  comparison.  "  The  Convocation 
meets  twice  a  week,"  writes  Baillie,  Dec.  12,  1640,  "  but  do 
nothing."  On  the  15th  and  16th  of  the  same  month  there 
were  unanimous  Resolutions  in  the  Commons  condemning  the 
late  canons  as  illegal,  and  declaring  the  clergy  absolved  from 


1640-41.]       THE   ENGLISH   CHURCH-REFORM  MOVEMENT.  195 

all  obedience  to  them ;  and  so  for  the  time  that  matter  rested. 
Other  specimens  of  the  vigilance  of  Parliament  from  the  first 
in  ecclesiastical  matters  were  such  as  these : — Dec.  1,  "  Bill 
read  in  the  Commons  for  reform  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts"; 
Dec.  22,  "Committee  of  Commons  appointed  on  the  state  of 
the  Universities  as  to  Religion  " ;  Jan.  20,  1640-41,  "  Com- 
mons resolve  that  the  statute,  passed  twenty-seven  years 
before,  requiring  young  students  at  Cambridge  to  subscribe 
the  36th  canon  of  1603,  is  illegal " ;  Jan.  23,  "  Ordered  by  the 
Commons  that  commissions  be  sent  into  all  counties  for  the 
defacing,  demolishing,  and  quite  taking  away  of  all  images, 
altars  or  tables  turned  altar- wise,  crucifixes,  superstitious  pic- 
tures, monuments,  and  relics  of  idolatry,  out  of  all  churches 
and  chapels."  ]  There  were  also  enactments  for  the  better 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and,  of  course,  again  and 
again,  for  the  more  rigid  control  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 

All  this,  however,  was,  as  one  may  say,  in  the  programme. 
Over  this  extent  of  ground,  and  a  good  deal  more,  the 
Parliament  may  be  considered  to  have  been  carried  pretty 
unanimously  by  the  impetus  communicated  to  it  at  its  first 
assembling.  But  it  was  different  with  the  great  ecclesiastical 
question  which  had  been  gathering  like  a  cloud  in  the  Houses 
from  the  first,  and  which  soon  burst  into  a  tempest  rolling  all 
else  in  its  midst.  This  was  the  question  of  a  Reform  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Laud  being  hors  de  combat,  and  Laudism  pure  and  simple  a 
rejected  impossibility,  there  were,  in  the  months  of  November 
and  December  1640,  so  far  as  observation  can  now  discern, 
three  parties  in  England  on  the  Church  Question. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  what  may  be  called  a  HIGH 
CHURCH  PARTY.  It  consisted  of  all  those  Laudians  who, 
though  now  bereft  of  their  chief,  and  of  the  hope  of  pre- 
serving his  system  in  its  completeness,  were  yet  resolute  for 
retaining  whatever  of  his  system  could  be  retained,  together 
with  all  those  who,  though  they  had  not  been  Laudians 
theologically,  had  of  late  been  approximating  to  Laud  ecclesi- 

»  Parl.  Hist. ;  Baillio,  I.  282 ;  Rushworth,  IV,  100-111. 


196  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

astically.  At  the  head  of  this  party  was  indubitably  Hall, 
Bishop  of  Exeter.  Hall's  treatise,  Episcopacy  ~by  Divine  Right, 
concocted  between  him  and  Laud  in  the  preceding  year,  and 
now  in  circulation  for  some  ten  months,  had  been  the  pro- 
clamation of  a  union  between  the  Laudians  and  the  non- 
Laudian  lovers  of  High-Episcopal  government.  It  was  the 
manifesto  of  their  united  policy.  Most  of  the  other  Bishops, 
so  far  as  they  were  at  liberty  to  act  publicly,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  effectives  of  this  party  under  Hall's  leadership. 
The  party  was  also  strong  in  the  two  Universities,  particularly 
that  of  Oxford ;  and  generally  it  was  strong  among  the 
churchmen  of  superior  rank.  Of  the  nine  thousand  and  odd 
parish-clergy  of  England  I  should  suppose  that  4,000  were  of 
this  party,  holding  by  Episcopacy  as  of  divine  right,  either 
in  Laud's  high  sense  of  transmitted  Apostolical  order,  or  in 
Hall's  nearly  as  high  sense,  or  in  some  sense  that  disposed 
them  to  stand  firmly  for  the  supreme  excellence  of  Episcopal 
rule.  But,  though  strong  in  the  Church,  the  party  was  very 
far  from  being  strong  among  the  laity.  A  few  of  the  stateliest 
peers,  and  a  family  among  the  gentry  here  and  there,  may 
have  had  a  real  affection  for  Episcopacy  as  such.  There 
were  perhaps  more  in  the  same  ranks  who  loved  a  rich  ritual 
in  the  Church  service,  as  they  loved  the  ivy  that  clothed  the 
old  church  porches,  and  who  identified,  as  Laud  did,  not  only 
the  liturgy,  but  the  white  surplices,  the  altar,  the  music, 
the  painted  windows,  and  all  symbols  and  ceremonies,  with 
the  true  and  perfect  beauty  of  holiness.  But  these  were  the 
exceptions.  The  great  body  of  the  laity,  whether  in  or  out 
of  Parliament,  were  by  no  means  so  conservative. 

A  far  larger  mass  of  the  laity  belonged  to  a  second  party, 
which  may  be  called  the  MODERATE  or  BROAD  CHURCH  PARTY. 
This  party,  though  attached,  on  the  whole,  to  Episcopacy  and 
to  its  appertaining  forms  of  worship,  as  intermingled  with  the 
traditions  and  the  habits  of  English  life,  were  yet  not  only 
ready  for  very  considerable  changes  in  the  government  and 
worship  of  the  church,  but  also  convinced  that  the  time  for 
such  changes  had  arrived.  There  were  many  subsections  in 
this  party  ;  but,  with  allowance  for  gradations  of  view,  all  of 


1640-41.]       THE  ENGLISH   CHURCH-REFORM  MOVEMENT.  19? 

them  may  be  considered  as  aiming  at  a  "  Limited  Episcopacy," 
instead  of  the  Episcopacy  then  established.  In  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  the  representatives  of  the  party  were  numerous. 
In  the  Upper  House,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bishops,  and 
perhaps  a  very  few  lay  Peers,  even  those  who  were  the  soundest 
Church -of-Englaud  men  were  Church-of-England  men  in  a 
moderate  sense.  While  they  would  preserve  the  Episcopal 
organization  of  the  Church,  they  would  do  so  from  no  belief 
in  its  absolutely  divine  or  apostolical  right,  but  on  simpler 
grounds  of  expediency  and  national  fitness ;  and  they  would 
at  the  same  time  press  for  a  great  reduction  of  the  power  of 
the  Bishops,  and  of  the  clergy  generally.  Still  more  in  the 
Commons  was  this  the  type  of  Church-of-Englandism  that 
prevailed.  Falkland,  Colepepper,  Lord  Digby,  Kudyard, 
Selden,  Harbottle  Grimstone,  and  others,  both  country 
gentlemen  and  lawyers,  who  were  thought  among  the 
soundest  Church-of-Eugland  men  in  the  House,  had  this 
reputation  simply  because,  while  advocating  retrenchments 
of  the  clerical  and  Episcopal  power,  they  were  still  for 
retaining  an  Episcopal  constitution  of  the  Church  as  the 
fittest  for  England.  Even  Hyde,  who  was  considerably 
more  of  a  High-Churchman  than  his  friend  Falkland,  had  all 
a  lawyer's  contempt  for  the  political  pretensions  of  the  clergy, 
and  for  clerical  jurisdictions  in  the  State.  Nor  was  this 
Moderate  or  Broad  Church  Party  without  a  large  representa- 
tion among  the  clergy  themselves.  If  we  take  the  party  in 
its  widest  extension,  it  was  perhaps  as  numerous  among  the 
parish-clergy  as  the  High  Church  party ;  but,  if  Falkland's  or 
Digby's  views  were  made  the  standard  of  the  party,  then  its 
numbers  among  the  parish-clergy  were  probably  much  less. 
Among  the  clergy  themselves,  however,  the  party  had  at  least 

two  leaders  of  note. One  of  these  was  Archbishop  Usher. 

Although  of  the  Irish  Church,  Usher  was,  both  from  his  high 
character  and  his  reputation  for  colossal  learning,  a  prelate  to 
whom  all  England  would,  in  any  case,  have  listened  with 
respect  As  it  chanced,  however,  he  had  recently  come  over 
from  Dublin,  in  Stratford's  train,  for  some  literary  researches 
in  the  libraries  in  Oxford  and  London,  and  had  taken  up 


198  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF   HIS  TIME. 

his  stay  in  England,  never  to  return.  Usher's  views  of 
Episcopacy  were  not  now  to  be  ascertained  for  the  first  time. 
All  the  world  knew  him,  from  his  former  writings,  to  be  one 
of  those  who  did  not  believe  in  the  absolute  divine  right  of 
Episcopacy,  or  even  in  its  essentially  Apostolical  origin,  but 
only  in  its  high  convenience  and  advantages.  He  was  one  of 
those  who  maintained  that  in  the  primitive  Church  there  had 
been  no  distinction,  or  next  to  no  distinction,  between  Presbyter 
and  Bishop,  and  whose  ideal  of  a  proper  Church  government 
was  a  system  of  limited  Episcopacy,  in  which,  while  there 
should  be  Bishops  as  presidents  over  districts,  they  should  be 
aided  by  councils  of  Presbyters,  and  even  controlled  by  synods 
of  Presbyters.  During  his  Irish  Primacy,  it  is  true,  he  had 
been  overborne  by  the  ascendency  of  Laud,  and  had  seen, 
with  grief,  the  Protestant  Church  of  Ireland  deprived  of  her 
Calvinistic  independence,  and  assimilated  to  the  Church  of 
England.  But,  now  that  affairs  had  changed  their  direction 
in  England  itself,  it  was  not  impossible  that  the  services  of 
this  meek  and  learned  man,  who  had  no  feeling  towards  Laud 
and  Strafford  in  their  downfall  but  that  of  faithful  respect 
and  pity,  should  be  in  request  for  the  purposes  of  mediation. 
The  King  had  begun  to  be  aware  of  this  fact,  and  to  regard 

Usher's  presence  in  England  as  not  unimportant.1 There 

was,  however,  among  the  English  Bishops  themselves,  one  to 
whom,  whether  as  a  colleague  in  the  work  with  Usher,  or  as  a 
likely  leader  by  himself,  the  eyes  of  all  the  Moderate  or  Broad 
Church  Party  might  have  been  turned.  This  was  our  old 
friend,  Williams  of  Lincoln.  Restored  to  public  life  by  the 
meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,  it  was  in  accordance  with  all 
that  was  known  of  the  character  of  this  Bishop  that  he  would 
not  miss  the  opportunity  of  reminding  men  of  his  existence 
and  of  his  former  suddenly-eclipsed  greatness  in  the  State. 
He  was  sure  in  some  way  or  another  to  try  a  flashing  part. 
It  was  equally  certain  that,  whatever  part  he  might  take,  it 
would  not  be  in  support  of  the  Laudian  system.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  was  tolerably  certain  that  a  crusade  against 

1  Elrington's  Life  of  Usher  prefixed       Works  themselves,    XII.    927  ;    Rush- 
to    his  "Works,"   pp.    207—209;    the       worth,  IV.  187;  Baillie,  I.  287- 


1640-41.]       THE   ENGLISH   CHURCH-REFORM  MOVEMENT.  199 

Episcopacy  would  have  no  countenance  from  Williams. 
While  in  prison,  he  had  scouted  the  idea  of  a  Reformation  of 
the  English  Church  after  the  Scottish  model ;  and,  since  his 
release,  he  had  been  heard  to  say  of  the  Presbyterian  system 
that  it  was  a  "  government  fit  only  for  tailors  and  shoemakers, 

and  the  like,  and  not  for  noblemen  and  gentlemen."  l In 

short,  if  a  new  organization  of  the  Church  of  England  was 
wanted,  differing  from  the  existing  organization,  or  from 
anything  that  Laud  or  Hall  would  have  considered  tolerable, 
but  still  preserving  the  features  of  Episcopacy  and  stopping 
short  of  ecclesiastical  democracy,  Williams  was  the  man  to 
offer  to  be  the  inventor. 

Distinct  from  both  the  High  Church  Party  and  the  Moderate 
or  Middle  Party  was  a  third  and  extreme  mass  of  English- 
men, to  whom  may  be  given  the  name  of  the  ROOT-AND- 
BRANCH  PARTY.  I  adopt  this  name  because  "  root-and- 
branch  "  was  a  favourite  phrase  of  their  own  ;  but,  with  almost 
equal  accuracy,  I  might,  for  the  nonce,  call  them  simply  The 
Presbyterian  Party.  They  desired  the  abolition  of  Episcopacy, 
"  root  and  branch,"  the  annihilation  of  all  dignities  in  the 
Church  above  that  of  simple  presbyter  or  parish-minister,  a 
simplification  of  the  ritual  of  the  Church  to  correspond,  and 
the  appropriation  of  all  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  that  would 
be  available  after  the  abolition  of  Bishoprics,  Deaneries  and 
Chapters,  Archdeaconries,  and  the  like,  to  humbler  religious 
uses,  or  to  the  general  uses  of  the  State.  As  the  recent  revo- 
lution in  the  Scottish  Church  was  the  freshest  and  nearest 
example  for  imitation  in  this  direction, and  as,  indeed,  sympathy 
witli  that  revolution  was  for  the  time  the  omnipotent  feeling 
of  the  party,  the  aim  which  it  mainly  proposed  to  itself  was 
the  establishment  in  England  of  a  Church,  as  nearly  as  might 
be,  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  fashion.  There  was  no  per- 
fect or  precise  agreement  as  to  the  degree  of  similarity  to  the 
Scottish  Kirk  which  might  be  consistent  with  the  conditions 
of  English  life.  There  were  even  seeds,  as  we  shall  see,  of 
theories  which  were  in  the  end  to  declare  Presbyterianism 
insulUcient  and  to  quarrel  with  it.  But  at  the  exact  time  now 

»  Clarendon,  Ili-t.  140. 


200  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

under  notice  (Nov.  and  Dec.  1640)  the  collective  tendency  of 
the  party  was  indubitably  to  such  a  total  re-organization  of 
the  English  Church  as  should  bring  it  into  union  and  corre- 
spondence with  that  of  the  Scots  on  the  basis  of  a  common 

Presbyterianism  for  the  whole  Island. This  Eadical  or 

Eoot-and-Branch  party  was  numerically,  perhaps,  the  strongest 
of  the  three.  Among  the  Clergy,  indeed,  it  was  comparatively 
very  weak.  About  thirty  of  the  clergy  then  assembled  in 
Convocation  were  considered  to  belong  to  it  or  to  be  tending 
to  it l ;  and,  if  as  many  as  1,000  or  1,500  of  the  more  extreme 
Puritans  among  the  parish  clergy  of  England  were  considered 
as  either  belonging  to  it  or  convertible  to  it  by  circumstances, 
that  was  perhaps  an  exaggerated  calculation.  But  among  the 
laity  it  was  enormously  and  growingly  powerful.  Not  without 
a  sprinkling  among  the  nobility  and  wealthier  gentry,  it 
had  a  large  number  of  adherents  among  the  minor  gentry, 
while  in  the  great  body  of  the  people  it  counted  its  tens  of 
thousands.  London  was  its  stronghold  and  head- quarters, 
the  traditional  Puritanism  of  that  city  having  now  almost 
avowedly  taken  the  form  of  a  phrenzy  for  Presbyterianism. 
Most  of  the  other  considerable  towns  were  centres  of  the 
same  feeling ;  and  there  were  particular  counties,  more 
especially  the  eastern  counties  of  Essex,  Suffolk,  Cambridge, 
Huntingdon  and  Bedford,  and  the  north-western  counties  of 
Lancaster  and  Chester,  where  Eoot-and-Branch  principles  were 
distinctly  predominant  among  the  farmers  and  ten  an  try. 2- 
And  who  were  the  leaders  of  this  powerful  popular  party  ? 
On  first  thoughts  it  might  be  supposed  that  those  who  had 
done  and  suffered  so  much  as  pioneers  of  the  party  during 
the  recent  ascendency  of  "  Thorough  ", — the  Leightons,  the 
Prynnes,  the  Burtons,  and  the  Bastwicks, — would  now  step 
forth  as  the  leaders.  But  public  feeling  is  capricious,  and  at 
the  same  time  shrewd,  in  such  matters.  Though  it  had  been 
for  expressing  sentiments  which  thousands  of  their  fellow- 

1  Baillie,    I.    282:  "There   is   some  2  The  proofs  for  these  statements  are 

thirty  of  them  well  minded  for  removing  various  and  scattered.     Some  exist  in 

of    Episcopacy,    and    many    more  for  the  shape  of  petitions  from  counties  in 

paring  of  Bishops'  nails  and  arms  too  :"  printed  collections  of  the  time,  or  still 

Dec.  12,  1640.  in  MS.  in  the  S.  P.  0. 


1840-41.]       THE   ENGLISH  CHURCH-REFORM   MOVEMENT.  201 

countrymen  were  now  expressing  without  danger  that  these 
men  had  had  their  noses  slit  and  their  ears  cropped  off,  yet 
there  was  a  feeling  that  men  who  had  fared  so  ignomi- 
niously,  however  it  had  happened,  would  not  do  for  leaders. 
Accordingly,  though  Prynne  continued  to  be  an  indefatigable 
writer  of  Presbyterian  pamphlets,  of  the  heavy  and  learned 
sort,  in  his  Lincoln's  Inn  chambers,  and  although  young 
Lilburne  continued  to  be  a  popular  favourite  under  the  name 
of  "  Free-born  John,"  it  was  among  men  of  a  different  stamp 
that  the  Root-and- Branch  party  sought  its  real  chiefs.  Quite 
as  unfit  for  the  duty  were  most  of  those  new  pamphleteers 
who,  availing  themselves  of  the  sudden  liberty  of  writing  by 
the  break -down  of  the  censorship,  were  now  daily  venting, 
and  for  the  most  part  anonymously,  repetitions  of  Prynne's 
and  Bastwick's  arguments.  It  was  among  the  members  of  the 
two  Houses,  and  among  such  of  the  Puritan  clergy  of  the 
most  advanced  type  as  had  the  greatest  reputation  for  sagacity 
and  learning,  that  the  true  leaders  presented  themselves.  In 
the  Upper  House  there  were  Viscount  Saye  and  Sele,  Viscount 
Mandeville,  and  Lord  Brooke,  all  three  in  advance  of  the 
Earl  of  Bedford  in  their  notions  of  Church-Reform,  and  in 
effect,  for  the  present,  Presbyterians.  In  the  Lower  House, 
gradually  influencing  Pym  himself,  whose  constitutional 
inclinations  were  more  moderate,  were  men  like  Hampden, 
Cromwell,  and  Vane.  Cromwell,  we  find,  was  about  this 
tune  expressing  his  interest  in  certain  papers  which  the 
Scots  had  put  forth,  arguing  for  a  conformity  of  Religion 
between  the  two  countries.1  Among  the  English  Puritan 
clergy  were  some  half-dozen  or  more,  either  ministers  of 
London  parishes,  or  then  up  in  London  for  the  Convocation 
or  for  other  purposes,  who  formed  a  kind  of  working  com- 
mittee of  the  Root-and- Branch  party.  A  chief  man  among 
these  was  Mr.  Cornelius  Burges,  rector  of  St.  Magnus, 
London,  and  vicar  of  Watford ;  but  also  notable  individually 
were  these  five :  Mr.  Stephen  Marshall,  minister  of  Finching- 
tit-ld  in  FCssex ;  Mr.  Edmund  Calamy,  minister  of  St.  Mary 
Alderman  bury,  London  ;  Mr.  Thomas  Young,  vicar  of  Stow- 

1  (  .irlylo's  Cromwell  (edit.  1857),  I.  85. 


202  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

market  in  Suffolk,  once  Milton's  preceptor ;  Matthew 
Newcomen,  minister  of  Dedham  in  Essex  ;  and  Mr.  William 
Spurstow,  minister  of  Hampden  in  Bucks,  the  parish  of  John 
Hampden.  In  constant  intercourse  with  these  ministers,  and 
with  conspicuous  London  citizens  of  similarly  Presbyterian 
tendencies,  were  the  clerical  members  of  the  Scottish  deputa- 
tion, Henderson,  Baillie,  Blair,  and  Gillespie.  They  shared 
in  all  the  counsels  of  the  Eoot-and-Branch  party,  and  were 
its  Scottish  advisers  and  auxiliaries.  "  The  root  of  Epis- 
copacy," Baillie  wrote  home,  in  December  1640,  to  the 
brethren  of  his  Presbytery  in  Ayrshire,  "  will  be  assaulted 
"  with  the  strongest  blast  it  ever  felt  in  England.  Let  your 
"  hearty  prayers  be  joined  with  mine  and  of  many  millions 
"  that  the  breath  of  the  Lord's  nostrils  may  join  with  the 
"  endeavours  of  weak  men  to  blow  up  that  old  gourd  wicked 
"  oak."  l 

Properly,  I  ought  now  to  go  on  to  narrate  in  this  chapter 
the  first  efforts  made  in  Parliament  and  out  of  it  to  accomplish 
the  feat  which  Baillie  thought  so  desirable.  That  story, 
however,  though  chronologically  it  belongs  in  part  to  this 
chapter,  will  be  best  reserved  for  the  chapter  after  next. 

i  Baillie,  I.  286-7. 


CHAPTBB    II. 

THE  HOUSE  IN  ALDERSOATE  STREET. 

WITHOUT  as  yet  knowing  the  fact,  the  Root-and- Branch 
party  had  a  possible  leader  at  hand  in  one  Englishman  who, 
though  neither  in  the  Church  nor  in  Parliament,  and  though 
with  a  character  and  thoughts  of  his  own  which  might  have 
made  his  party  services  at  any  time  difficult  either  to  obtain 
or  to  keep,  yet  did  at  this  time  assent  with  his  whole  soul  to 
the  Anti  -  Prelatic  movement.  He  hailed  that  movement 
among  his  countrymen,  and  he  was  willing  to  bring  to  its  aid 
a  genius  compared  with  which  the  utmost  clerical  abilities  of 
the  Burgeses,  Calamys,  and  Spurstows,  and  even  the  higher 
and  more  liberal  intellect  of  the  Parliamentary  Hampdens 
and  Vanes,  were  but  as  honest  homely  web,  or  some  richer 
native  fabric,  compared  with  cloth  of  Arras.  He  was  a 
man  well  known  to  Mr.  Thomas  Young  of  Stowmarket,  for 
he  had  been  Young's  pupil  some  eighteen  years  before ;  and, 
had  it  been  necessary,  Young  could  have  introduced  him  to 
his  associates  in  the  committee  of  English  Puritan  ministers 
then  acting,  along  with  the  Scottish  Commissioners,  in  behalf 
of  Koot-and-Branch  opinions.  Probably  no  such  introduc- 
tion was  necessary.  London  was  a  smaller  place  then  than 
it  is  now ;  and  John  Milton,  M.A.  of  Cambridge,  and  a 
Londoner  born  and  bred,  was  probably,  at  thirty-two  years 
of  age,  better  known  among  the  clergy  and  scholars  of  the 
city  than  Young  himself. 

We  left  Milton  in  lodgings  in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard  near 
Fleet  Street,  among  his  books  and  papers,  with  his  younger 
nephew,  Johnny  Phillips,  boarding  with  him,  ami  tin*  other 


204  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

nephew,  Edward  Phillips,  coming  in  for  his  lessons.  But  he 
was  now  no  longer  in  that  locality.  "  He  made  no  long  stay," 
says  Edward  Phillips,  "  in  his  lodgings  in  St.  Bride's  Church- 
"  yard :  necessity  of  having  a  place  to  dispose  his  books  in, 
"  and  other  goods  fit  for  the  furnishing  of  a  good  handsome 
"  house,  hastening  him  to  take  one  ;  and,  accordingly,  a  pretty 
"  garden-house  he  took  in  Aldersgate  Street,  at  the  end  of  an 
"  entry,  and  therefore  the  fitter  for  his  turn,  besides  that  there 
"  are  few  streets  in  London  more  free  from  noise  than  that." 
Phillips  does  not  give  the  date  of  this  removal ;  but,  if  it  was 
in  the  winter  of  1639-40  that  Milton  went  into  his  St.  Bride's 
Churchyard  lodgings,  it  is  implied  that  his  stay  there  cannot 
have  extended  to  the  following  winter,  but  that  before  the 
opening  of  the  Long  Parliament  he  was  in  Aldersgate  Street. 
We  know,  at  all  events,  that  he  was  there,  a  settled  London 
householder,  paying  rates  and  taxes,  very  shortly  after  the 
opening  of  the  Parliament.  We  know  more  than  this.  It 
is  possible  to  fix  with  something  like  precision  the  part  of 
Aldersgate  Street  in  which  Milton  lived.  Taking  a  walk  in 
that  portion  of  the  present  London, — now  uninviting  enough, 
given  over  as  it  is  to  second-rate  shops  of  all  sorts,  with  an 
occasional  distillery  or  other  such  place  of  business  inter- 
spersed, while  a  ceaseless  roll  of  omnibuses  and  heavily- 
loaded  waggons  proves  how  irredeemably  it  is  included  in 
the  noisiest  core  of  the  city, — one  can  yet,  with  the  aid  of 
the  antique  houses  of  Milton's  day  which  still  remain  in  it, 
realize  what  it  was  when  Milton  liked  it  for  its  quiet,  and 
daily  passed  through  it  to  or  from  his  dwelling. 

From  St.  Martin's-le-Grand,  where  the  Post  Office  now 
stands,  and  makes  a  much  clearer  space  than  once  existed 
between  Cheapside  and  Aldersgate,  the  present  Aldersgate 
Street  (thanks  to  the  discretion  of  the  Great  Fire)  stretches 
away  northwards  very  much  as  the  old  one  did.  It  stretches 
away  northwards  a  full  fourth  of  a  mile  as  one  continuous 
thoroughfare,  until,  crossed  by  Long  Lane  and  the  Barbican, 
it  parts  with  the  name  of  Aldersgate  Street,  and,  under  the 
new  names  of  Goswell  Street  and  Goswell  Eoad,  completes  its 
lazy  tendency  towards  the  suburbs  and  fields  about  Islington. 


1640-41.]  THE  HOUSE  IN   ALDERSGATE  STREET.  205 

Two  centuries  and  a  half  ago  the  line  of  direction  was  the 
same.  There  was  the  same  general  aspect  of  a  main  street, 
with  one  or  two  smaller  streets  and  a  good  many  lanes,  alleys, 
or  entries,  branching  out  of  it  on  both  sides.  Little  Britain 
was  on  the  one  side  as  now,  and  Jewin  Street  on  the  other, 
with  Trinity  Court,  Westmoreland  Alley,  Black  Horse  Alley, 
Half-moon  Court,  &c.,  on  the  Little  Britain  side,  and  Cooks' 
Hall  Court,  Greyhound  Court,  Ball  Alley,  Golden  Lion  Court, 
Maidenhead  Court,  Angel  Alley,  &c.,  on  the  Jewin  Street  side. 
But,  with  all  this  sameness  of  the  general  arrangement,  and 
even  with  houses  then  standing  in  the  street  which  stand 
there  still,  the  Aldersgate  Street  of  that  day  was  very 
differently  related  to  the  rest  of  London  from  the  present 
street,  and  very  different-looking.  In  the  first  place,  at  the 
entrance  to  the  street  from  St.  Martin's-le-Grand,  and  dis- 
tinctly marking  the  street  as  being  beyond  the  city- wall, 
there  was  then  to  be  seen  the  actual  Gate  from  which  the 
street  derived  its  name.  It  was  one  of  the  seven  well-known 
Gates  which  had  given  access  from  the  country  to  the  original 
city  at  different  points  of  its  circuit,  and  which  were  still 
conspicuous  inlets  from  the  sparser  fringe  of  streets  beyond 
the  walls  to  the  central  block  within  them.1  The  Gate  then 
standing  was  but  a  recent  structure,  having  been  erected  as 
lately  as  1617  instead  of  a  far  older  gate,  "  Alders'  Gate," 
which  had  long  fallen  into  ruin,  though  it  had  served  in 
Kli/abeth's  time  as  premises  for  John  Day,  the  printer.  In 
compliment  to  King  James,  who  had  entered  London  at  this 
point  when  he  first  came  from  Scotland,  the  city-authorities 
had  made  a  rather  fine  thing  of  the  new  Gate.  It  consisted 
of  two  square  towers  of  four  storeys  at  the  sides,  pierced 
with  narrow  portals  for  the  foot-passengers,  and  connected  by 
a  curtain  of  masonry  of  the  same  height  across  the  street, 
1  laving  the  main  archway  in  the  middle.  On  both  faces  of 
this  masonry  over  the  archway,  as  well  as  in  the  niches  in  the 
towers,  there  were  sculptures  of  King  James  (on  horseback 
on  the  Aldersgate  Street  side,  as  coming  to  take  possession, 

i  The    seven    gates    wore    Aldgate,     Biahopagate,    Moorgate,    Crij.plegate, 
Aldoragate,  Newgate,  and  Ludgato. 


206  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

but  on  his  throne  judging  the  people  on  the  St.  Martin's-le- 
Grand  side,  as  then  actually  in  possession) ;  together  with 
figures  of  the  prophets  Samuel  and  Jeremiah,  and  relevant 
texts  from  their  books. 

After  passing  through  so  imposing  a  gateway  from  St. 
Martin's-le-Grand,  you  would  expect  the  street  to  which  it  led 
to  be  of  a  superior  suburban  character.  Accordingly,  on  the 
left  side,  just  beyond  the  Gate,  was  St.  Botolph's  Church,  the 
predecessor  of  the  present  church  of  the  same  name;  and, 
passing  it,  you  had  nearly  a  third  of  a  mile  of  "  fair  build- 
ings "  on  both  sides  "  till  ye  come  to  Long  Lane,"  as  Stow 
wrote  in  1603.  Describing  the  street  in  1657,  Howell  could 
say,  "  This  street  resembleth  an  Italian  street  more  than  any 
"  other  in  London,  by  reason  of  the  spaciousness  and  uni- 
"  formity  of  the  buildings  and  straightness  thereof,  with  the 
"  convenient  distance  of  the  houses."  This  suggests  that, 
though  there  were  off-alleys  and  passages  from  the  street,  as 
now,  there  was  on  the  whole  greater  airiness  between  the 
houses,  with  considerable  open  spaces  behind  them,  in  lieu 
of  that  close  network  of  dingy  and  populous  courts,  in  which 
even  the  postman  must  now  lose  himself.  In  those  back- 
spaces, reached  by  courts  or  by  blind  entries  from  the  street, 
there  might  well  be  "  garden-houses,"  or  houses  with  small 
gardens  attached  to  them ;  and  in  one  such  garden-house, 
"  at  the  end  of  an  entry,"  and  therefore  well  secluded,  Milton 
lived. 

It  is  possible  that  the  entry  may  remain.  On  this  chance, 
one  would  gladly  go  up  all  the  present  courts  and  entries  on 
both  sides  of  Aldersgate  Street  rather  than  miss  what  might 
be  the  right  one,  though  not  in  one  of  them  would  there  be 
the  least  hope  of  identifying  the  garden-house.  But  no  such 
vague  exploration  through  the  whole  length  of  the  street  is 
necessary.  The  Wards  of  London,  or  districts  represented 
by  Aldermen,  are  subdivided  into  smaller  portions,  called 
Precincts,  each  represented  by  a  Common  Councilman ;  and 
Aldersgate  Ward  in  its  totality  consisted  of  eight  precincts, 
four  within  the  gate  and  four  without  the  gate.  The  four 
precincts  without  the  gate,  including  the  whole  of  Aldersgate 


1640-41.]  THH  HOUSE  IN  ALDERSGATE  STREET.  207 

Street  with  its  courts  and  purlieus,  were  called  respectively 
the  First,  Second,  Third,  and  Fourth  Precincts  of  St.  Botolph's 
Parish  ;  and  it  was  in  "  the  Second  Precinct  of  St.  Botolph's 
Parish  "  that  Milton  resided.  That  is,  he  resided  in  some  entry 
going  off  from  that  part  of  the  street  which  was  nearest  the 
Gate,  and  which  is  to  be  paced  now  between  St.  Martin's-le- 
Grand  and  the  vicinity  of  Maidenhead  Court  on  the  right 
side  of  the  street,  and  between  Little  Britain  and  Westmore- 
land Alley  on  the  left  side.  The  old  maps  have  given  me 
an  impression  that  there  was  most  room  for  "  garden-houses  " 
on  the  right  side. 

Whether  Milton's  house  was  on  the  right  side  of  Aldersgate 
Street,  or  on  the  Little  Britain  side,  he  had  very  respectable 
neighbours.  In  the  same  Second  Precinct  with  himself,  and 
therefore  within  a  few  houses  from  him,  lived  his  old  friend 
and  teacher,  Dr.  Alexander  Gill,  now  dismissed  by  the 
Mercers  from  the  head-mastership  of  St.  Paul's  School  on  a 
retiring  allowance  of  251.  a  year,  and  keeping  a  private 
academy ;  and,  besides  Gill,  in  the  same  Precinct,  were  the 
following  persons:  Mr.  Vernon,  a  counsellor;  Richard 
Musckle,  a  weaver,  and  his  wife;  Richard  Dawson,  an 
attorney  ;  Mrs.  Pallavicini,  widow,  a  relation  of  Cromwell's  ; 
John  Welsford,  parish-clerk  of  St.  Botolph's,  and  his  wife ; 
Prosper  Rainsford,  gentleman ;  Jokay  Matthews,  gentleman, 
with  his  wife,  and  four  servants ;  Justinian  Povey,  auditor, 
with  his  wife,  daughter,  and  four  servants ;  John  Birch, 
gentleman,  and  his  wife ;  and  Sir  Thomas  Cecil.  Not  in 
the  same  Precinct,  but  quite  near,  in  Little  St  Bartholomew 
Parish,  to  be  reached  through  Little  Britain,  lived  Dr. 
Theodore  Diodati,  with  his  new  wife.  In  the  Poll-tax  return 
from  which  these  names  are  taken  Milton  appears  among  them 
under  the  designation  "  Jo.  Milton,  gent,"  and  as  having  one 
servant  named  "  Jane  Yates."  If  there  were  other  persons  in 
the  household,  they  must  have  been  under  sixteen  years  of 
age.  But,  in  "  a  pretty  garden-house,"  handsomely  furnished, 
as  Phillips  tells  us  it  was,  Milton,  even  but  with  one  servant, 
was  probably  as  well  off  as  most  of  his  neighboura  Besides 
the  houses  of  Mr.  Jokay  Matthews,  Mr.  Auditor  Povey,  and 


208  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Sir  Thomas  Cecil,  there  were,  indeed,  farther  up  Aldersgate 
Street,  but  giving  dignity  to  the  whole  street,  houses  of  more 
aristocratic  rank  than  Milton's.  In  the  street,  or  immediately 
off  it,  on  one  side,  was  Thanet  House,  the  town-house  of 
the  Earls  of  Thanet,  and,  on  the  other  side,  Peter  House,  the 
town-house  of  the  Earl  of  Kingston,  while  in  the  adjacent 
Barbican  was  the  town-house  of  the  Bridgewater  family. 
Taking  a  walk  out  of  Aldersgate  Street  towards  the  country, 
Milton  would  pass  those  houses,  and  the  fine  grounds  about 
the  Charter  House,  also  the  Bell  Inn  and  one  or  two  other 
inns,  and,  much  sooner  than  one  can  now  fancy  in  that 
neighbourhood,  would  be  footing  the  open  fields.1 

In  the  house  in  Aldersgate  Street,  with  Jane  Yates  to  keep 
it  in  order,  Milton  continued  the  tuition  of  his  two  nephews. 
"  Here  first  it  was,"  says  Edward  Phillips,  "  that  his 
"  academic  erudition  was  put  in  practice  and  vigorously 
"  proceeded,  he  himself  giving  an  example  to  those  under 
"  him  (for  it  was  not  long  after  his  taking  this  house  ere  his 
"  elder  nephew  was  put  to  board  with  him  also)  of  hard 
"  study  and  spare  diet."  Phillips,  the  elder  nephew  here 
spoken  of,  introduces  at  this  point  a  sketch  of  that  "  academic 
erudition  "  of  Milton's,  or  peculiar  and  original  system  of 
teaching,  of  which  he  and  his  brother  John  began  about  this 
time  to  have  the  full  benefit.  We  shall  have  a  better  oppor- 
tunity hereafter  of  adverting  to  that  interesting  subject. 

1  My  authorities  for  this  account  of  with  a  communication  from  a  former 

the  Aldersgate  Street  house  are  : — Life  resident    in    the    Aldersgate    part    of 

of  Milton  by  Phillips  ;    Hunter's  Mil-  London,  certifying  that  he  and  his  wife 

ton  Gleanings  (1850),  pp.  24,  27,  where  were  well  acquainted  about  sixty  years 

information  is  cited  from  an  Exchequer  before   (i.e.    between   1810    and    1820) 

Record  entitled  ' '  A  Book  of  the  names  with  the  house  then  reputed  by  tradi- 

and  surnames,  degrees,  ranks,  and  qua-  tion  to  have  been   Milton's.     It  was 

lities  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Ward  (pretty  much  as  I  had  conjectured)  at 

of    Aldersgate,    London.    July   1641,"  the  back  of  that  portion  of  Aldersgate 

drawn  up  for  the  Poll-tax  for  the  Scot-  Street  which  lay  between   Maidenhead 

tish    indemnity  ;    Stow's    London    by  Court  and  what  is  now  called  Shaftes- 

Strype  ;    Maps    of   Aldersgate  Ward,  bury  Place.     There  was  an  entrance  to 

giving  the  boundaries  of  the  precincts  ;  the  house  from    Maidenhead    Court ; 

minute  personal  comparison  of  these  but  the   main    entrance    was    by  the 

maps    with    the    present    Aldersgate  Shaftesbury  Place  passage  out  of  Al- 

Street ;    Cunningham's  Hand-book    of  dersgate   Street.     The    garden-ground 

London  ;  Wood's  Athenae,  III.  42,  43.  between  the  house  and  the  street  had 

— I  may  add  that,  in  August    1871,  been  of  considerable  extent,  till  blocked 

shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  first  by  rows  of  tenements, 
edition  of  this  volume,  I  was  favoured 


1640-41.]  THE  HOUSE   IN   ALDERSGATE  STREET.  209 

In  the  meantime,  what  Phillips  adds  respecting  Milton's 
relaxations  from  his  own  hard  studies  and  from  his  trouble 
with  the  two  boys  is  more  to  the  purpose.  "  Only  this 
"  advantage  he  had,"  says  Phillips,  "  that  once  in  three  weeks 
"  or  a  month  he  would  drop  into  the  society  of  some  young 
•'  sparks  of  his  acquaintance,  whereof  were  Mr.  Alphry  and 
"  Mr.  Miller,  two  gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inn,  the  beaux  of 
"  those  times,  but  nothing  near  so  bad  as  those  now-a-days 
"  [i.e.  in  1694,  when  Phillips  was  writing].  With  these  gen- 
"  tlemen  he  would  so  far  make  bold  with  his  body  as  now  and 
"  then  to  keep  a  gaudy-day."  Why  Phillips  should  have 
recollected,  among  his  uncle's  acquaintances  of  the  Aldersgate 
Street  period,  those  two  gentlemen  in  particular  (whom  I 
identify  with  a  "  Thomas  Alfray  of  Catsfield,  Sussex,"  and  a 
"  John  Miller  of  Litton,  Middlesex,"  admitted  of  Gray's  Inn 
in  the  years  1633  and  1628  respectively1),  does  not  appear. 
Perhaps  it  was  because,  as  being  the  beaux  of  those  times, 
they  made  a  greater  impression  upon  the  two  boys  than  more 
important  men.  For,  whatever  acquaintances  Milton  may 
have  had  of  this  sort,  they  interfered  little  with  those  occupa- 
tions to  which,  since  his  return  to  England,  he  Jiad  secretly 
pledged  himself.  What  they  were  we  already  know.  He  was 
ruminating  that  great  literary  work  which  posterity  should 
not  willingly  let  die ;  and,  having  made  up  his  mind  that 
it  should  be  some  great  English  poem,  he  was  collecting  all 
sorts  of  Scriptural  subjects,  and  subjects  from  British  His- 
tory, making  notes  for  each,  and  weighing  them  against 
each  other.  Those  pages  of  Jottings,  now  preserved  at  Cam- 
l»ri«lxre,  which  we  have  seen  him  busy  over  in  his  lodging 
in  St.  Bride's  Churchyard,  accompanied  him  into  his  house 
in  Aldersgate  Street. 

Probably  for  no  mind  in  England  had  the  opening  of  the 
I. -MI •_'  Parliament  sounded  a  proclamation  of  great  coming 
changes  more  rousingly  than  for  Milton's.  A  Puritan  by 
family -training  from  his  boyhood,  he  had  been  so  much 
of  a  Puritan  in  his  subsequent  youth,  after  a  higher  and 

'  Li*t*  of  Admiwon*  to  GrnyV  Inn,  Hurl.  MS.  1,912,  f.  85  and  f.  127. 
vol..    II  P 


210  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

rarer  fashion  of  his  own  devising,  that  he  had  shrunk  from 
entering  the  Church  for  which  he  had  been  destined  by  his 
parents.  He  had  preferred  the  prospect  of  a  solitary  intel- 
lectual life,  unattached,  undignified,  and  apparently  "  cut  off 
from  all  action,"  rather  than  launch  himself  on  a  career  which 
he  considered  that  Laud  and  the  like  of  Laud  had  blasted, 
made  dishonourable,  and  indeed  nauseous.  It  had  become 
a  career  to  be  shunned,  as  he  says  daringly,  by  all  consciences 
save  such  as  "  could  not  retch  "  ;  and  his  was  not  such  a  con- 
science. He  had  resolved  not  to  be  a  Churchman.  But  the 
reasons  for  the  resolution  were  always  in  his  memory.  During 
the  eight  years  which  had  elapsed  since  he  had  taken  it,  his 
conduct  had  been  that  of  a  man  "  church-outed  by  the  Pre- 
lates," and  with  a  fund  of  rage  in  him  on  that  account 
against  the  existing  system  in  Church  and  State,  though 
compelled,  like  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  to  be  silent  and 
prudent.  Among  his  friends,  doubtless,  he  had  spoken  out ; 
but  in  anything  he  had  published  it  was  only  the  general 
tone,  and  perhaps  a  passage  here  and  there,  too  obscure  and 
subtle  to  alarm  the  censorship,  that  had  revealed  the  strength 
of  his  politics.  Of  all  that  he  had  written,  perhaps  a  passage 
in  his  Lycidas,  published  in  16 38, had  approached  the  nearest 
to  what  Laud,  had  it  been  brought  to  his  notice,  would  have 
pronounced  to  be  a  libel.  It  is  that  passage  in  which,  among 
the  various  lamentations  on  the  death  of  Edward  King,  there 
is  introduced  one  supposed  to  be  spoken  by  St.  Peter  as  the 
representative  of  the  Church : — 

"  How  well  could  I  have  spared  for  thee,  young  swain, 
Enow  of  such  as,  for  their  bellies'  sake, 
Creep  and  intrude  and  climb  into  the  fold  ! 
Of  other  care  they  little  reckoning  make 
Than  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearers'  feast 
And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest. 
Blind  mouths  !  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to  hold 
A  sheep-hook,  or  have  learnt  aught  else  the  least 
That  to  the  faithful  herdman's  art  belongs ! 
What  recks  it  them  ?     What  need  they  1     They  are  sped ; 
And,  when  they  list,  their  lean  and  flashy  songs 
Grate  on  their  scrannel  pipes  of  wretched  straw. 


1640-41]  THE  HOUSE  IN   ALDERSGATE  STREET.  211 

The  hungry  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed, 

But,  swoln  with  wind  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw, 

Rot  inwardly  and  foul  contagion  spread, 

Besides  what  the  grim  wolf  with  privy  paw 

Daily  devours  apace,  and  nothing  said. 

But  that  two-handed  engine  at  the  door 

Stands  ready  to  smite  once  and  smite  no  more." 

What  did  Milton  mean  by  the  last  two  lines  ?  What  was 
that  metaphorical  "  two-handed  engine  "  which  was  to  break 
open  the  door  of  the  corrupted  Church  and  let  in  reform  and 
light  ?  Commentators  have  been  sorely  puzzled.  The  "  axe 
of  the  Gospel,"  say  some ;  "  the  literal  axe  that  was  to  smite 
off  Laud's  head,"  say  others  more  foolishly  ;  the  sword  of  the 
Archangel  Michael  which  he  wielded  with  "  huge  two-handed 
sway,"  say  a  third  party,  all  in  the  clouds  and  vague.  May 
not  Milton,  whatever  else  he  meant,  have  meant  a  coming 
English  Parliament  with  its  two  Houses?  Whatever  he 
meant,  his  prophecy  had  come  true.  As  he  sat  among  his 
books  in  Aldersgate  Street,  the  two-handed  engine  at  the  door 
of  the  English  Church  was  already  on  the  swing.  Once, 
twice,  thrice,  it  had  swept  its  arcs  to  gather  energy ;  now  it 
was  on  the  backmost  poise,  and  the  blow  was  to  descend. 

Milton's  own  words  give  the  best  description  of  the  state  of 
his  mind  at  this  moment.  "  As  soon  as  might  be,  in  affairs 
"  so  disturbed  and  fluctuating,"  he  says,  "  I,  looking  about  for 
"  a  place  in  which  to  establish  myself,  hired  (condiixi)  a  house 
"  in  the  city  sufficiently  large  for  me  and  my  books,  and  there 
"  betook  myself  happily  enough  to  my  intermitted  studies, 
"  committing  the  issue  of  affaire  to  God  in  the  first  place, 
"  and  to  those  next  to  whom  the  people  gave  that  duty  in 
"  trust.  Meanwhile, the  Parliament  proceeding  with  the  busi- 
"  ness  strenuously,  the  pride  of  the  Bishops  was  brought  down. 
"  As  soon  as  the  liberty  of  speech  at  least  began  to  be  granted, 
"  all  mouths  were  opened  against  the  Bishops :  some  to 
"  expostulate  on  the  vices  of  the  men ;  others  on  the  vice  of 

t  h«-  order  itself, — that  it  was  an  unjust  thing  that  the  English 
"  should  tlifli-r  from  all  Churches,  as  many  as  were  Reformed, 

;iii'l  that  it  was  fit  that  the  Church  should  be  governed  by 


212  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  the  example  of  the  brethren,  but  most  of  all  according  to 
"  the  will  of  God.  Boused  by  the  cognisance  of  these  things, 
"  inasmuch  as  I  perceived  that  the  true  way  to  liberty  fol- 
"  lowed  on  from  these  beginnings,  these  first  steps, — that  the 
"  advance  was  most  rightly  made  to  a  liberation  of  the  entire 
"  life  of  men  from  servitude  if  a  discipline  taking  its  rise 
"  within  religion  should  go  forth  thence  to  the  manners  and 
"  institutions  of  the  Commonwealth, — and  inasmuch  also  as 
"  I  had  so  prepared  myself  from  my  youth  that  above  all 
"  things  I  could  not  be  ignorant  what  is  of  divine  and  what 
"  of  human  right,  and  had  asked  myself  whether  ever  I  should 
"  be  of  any  use  afterwards  if  then  I  should  be  wanting  to 
"  my  country,  yea,  to  the  Church,  and  to  so  many  brethren 
"  exposing  themselves  to  danger  for  the  cause  of  the  Gospel : 
"  I  resolved,  though  I  was  then  meditating  certain  other 
"  matters,  to  transfer  into  this  struggle  all  my  genius  and  all 
"  the  strength  of  my  industry.  First,  accordingly,  I  .  .  ." ] 
Here  I  interrupt  the  quotation,  leaving  the  exact  results  of 
those  deliberations  of  Milton  to  appear  presently. 

During  the  months  of  November  and  December  1640,  and 
thence  onwards,  let  the  reader  fancy  Milton  passing  from 
and  to  his  house  in  Aldersgate  Street,  with  such  thoughts  in 
his  mind  as  he  has  himself  described.  Now  and  then,  per- 
haps, he  is  a  spectator,  with  others,  at  the  doors  of  the  two 
Houses  in  Westminster,  while  Bedford,  Saye  and  Sele,  Pym, 
Hampden,  Cromwell  and  others  are  entering.  Certainly,  at 
this  time  he  is  in  the  habit  of  seeing  Young,  Calamy,  and 
others  of  the  Eoot-and-Branch  Puritan  ministers  in  London. 
He  sees  them,  I  should  say,  more  frequently  than  the  two 
Gray's  Inn  beaux,  Messrs.  Miller  and  Alphry. 

1  Defensio  Secunda  pro  Pop.  Angl.  :  Works,  VI.  289,  290. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE      CHURCH      QUESTION      IN      AND     OUT     OP      PARLIAMENT BISHOP 

HALL     AND     SMECTYMNUUS BISHOPS1     EXCLUSION     BILL  —  SCHEMES 

OP    LIMITED    EPISCOPACY A    ROOT-AND-BRANCH    BILL. 

THE  Root-and-Branch  party  made  the  first  great  move.  As 
early  as  Nov.  13,  1640,  there  had  been  petitions  to  the 
Commons  for  Church -reform  from  the  "  nobility,  knights, 
gentry,  ministers,  &c.,"  of  the  counties  of  Bedford  and 
Warwick ;  and  other  petitions  had  followed.  But  on  the 
llth  of  December  there  came  what  was  then  considered  a 
monster  petition.  It  was  a  petition  from  the  City  of  London, 
signed  by  no  fewer  than  15,000  persons  (Milton  probably  one 
of  them),  and  presented  by  Alderman  Pennington,  one  of  the 
members  for  the  City,  whom  a  great  crowd  had  accompanied 
to  the  House.  "  Whereas  the  government  of  Archbishops  and 
"  Lord-Bishops,  Deans  and  Archdeacons,  &c.,  with  their  courts 
"  and  ministrations  in  them,  hath  proved  prejudicial  and  very 
"  dangerous  both  to  the  Church  and  Commonwealth  "  :  so  the 
petition  began  ;  and,  after  a  few  more  sentences  of  accusation, 
supported  by  an  appended  schedule  of  twenty-eight  parti- 
culars, it  wound  up :  "  We  therefore  most  humbly  pray  and 
"  IM-SIMM-II  this  IIi»iiiiur;iMr  Assriiililv,  tin-  premises  r..nsiilriv<l. 
"  that  the  said  government,  with  all  its  dependencies,  roots, 
"  and  branches,  may  be  abolished,  and  all  laws  in  their 
"  behalf  made  void,  and  the  government  according  to  God's 
"  word  may  be  rightly  placed  among  us."  This  petition  was 
very  respectfully  received  by  the  Commons,  as  were  also 
subsequent  petitions  more  or  less  in  the  same  strain.  On  the 
12th  of  January  there  were  Anti-Episcopal  petitions  simul- 
taneously from  three  counties,  one  being  the  county  of  Kent ; 


214  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

on  the  19th  there  was  a  similar  petition  from  the  city  of 
Gloucester;  and  on  the  23rd  there  was  a  petition  as  notable 
as  even  the  London  petition.  It  was  called  "  The  Ministers' 
Petition,"  and  was  signed  by  700  ministers  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Without  actually  praying  for  the  abolition  of 
Episcopacy,  it  urged  the  removal  of  the  Bishops  from  Parlia- 
ment, and  of  Clergymen  generally  from  all  secular  offices, 
and  also  the  revision  of  the  offices  and  revenues  of  Deans 
and  Chapters,  and  the  admission  of  the  body  of  the  Clergy 
to  a  share  in  ordination  and  other  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. 
Possibly  some  of  those  who  signed  it  shrank  as  yet  from 
absolute  Eoot-and-Branch.1 

Stunned  at  first  by  the  mere  meeting  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, the  High  Church  Party  had  hitherto  not  dared  to  speak, 
but  had  waited  to  know  the  amount  of  humiliation  to  which 
they  were  to  be  subjected.  But,  after  the  London  and  the 
other  petitions,  with  the  commentary  upon  them  furnished 
by  daily  pamphlets,  Bishop  Hall  thought  that  longer  silence 
would  be  culpable.  In  the  last  week  of  January  there 
appeared  from  his  pen  a  pamphlet  of  43  small  quarto  pages 
with  this  title :  "  Humble  Remonstrance  to  the  High  Court  of 
Parliament :  By  a  Dutiful  Sonne  of  the  Church"  2  Though 
Hall  did  not  give  his  name,  it  was  at  once  known  to  be  his, 
both  from  the  style  and  as  having  been  published  by  the  same 
Nathaniel  Butter  who  had  published  Hall's  larger  treatise  of 
the  preceding  year,  Episcopacy  ly  Divine  Eight. 

The  Humlle  Remonstrance,  in  form  an  appeal  to  the  two 
Houses,  was  in  substance  a  reassertion  of  the  principles  of 
Hall's  former  treatise,  with  just  so  much  of  abatement  as 
was  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  absence  of  Laud's  tight  super- 
vision this  time,  and  by  the  general  change  of  circumstances. 
"  Whilst  the  orthodox  part  in  this  whole  realm,"  it  said, 
"  hath  (to  the  praise  of  their  patience)  been  quietly  silent,  as 
"  securely  conscious  of  their  own  right  and  innocence,  how 

1  Kushworth,  IV.  93—96  and  135;  1640."    A  reference  to  the  pamphlet 
Parl.    Hist    II.    637—678  ;     Commons  by  Baillie  determines  the  exact  date  of 
Journals  ;  Baillie,  I.  280.  the  publication.    Writing  Jan.  29, 1640- 

2  "London:   Printed  for  Nathaniel  41,   Baillie  speaks  of  it  as   published 
Butter  in  Paul's  Churchyard   at   the  "this  week." 

Pyde    Bull    near    St.    Austin's    Gate : 


1640-41.]          HALL'S  HCMRLK  RRMOXSTRAXCB.  - 1 .". 

many  furious  aud  malignant  spirits  everywhere  have  burst 
"  forth  at  sclanderous  libels,  bitter  pasquins,railings,pamphlets 
"  (under  which  more  presses  than  one  have  groaned),  wherein 
"  they  have  endeavoured,  through  the  sides  of  some  misliked 
"  persons,  to  wound  the  sacred  government  which  (by  the 
"  joint  confession  of  all  Reformed  Divines)  derives  itself  from 
"  the  times  of  the  blessed  Apostles,  without  interruption 
"  (without  the  contradiction  of  any  one  congregation  in  the 
"  Christian  world),  unto  this  present  age ! "  After  more  pages 
of  such  prefatory  matter,  Hall  proceeds  to  reply  to  the  attacks 
of  the  other  side,  more  particularly  under  the  two  heads  of 
the  Liturgy  and  Episcopacy.  He  gives  eight  pages  to  the 
defence  of  Liturgies  and  of  the  English  Liturgy  especially, 
and  twenty-five  to  the  defence  of  Episcopal  Government,  the 
recent  attacks  on  which,  he  says,  have  so  "  confounded  "  him 
that  he  can  but  ejaculate,  in  the  Saviour's  words,  "  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  He  contrives, 
however,  to  protract  the  ejaculation  through  the  five-and- 
twenty  pages.  On  the  whole,  the  tract  is  not  creditable  to 
the  English  Seneca.  It  shows  far  too  much  of  that  habit 
of  mere  assumption  of  being  in  the  right,  and  of  reliance 
on  epithets,  which  always  marks  a  weak  reasoner.  "  The 
King  likes  it  weel,"  says  Baillie,  "  but  all  else  pities  it  as 
a  most  poor  piece."  Laud,  who  was  no  such  rhetorician  as 
Hall,  would  have  done  the  thing  far  better. 

It  was  on  Monday  the  8th  and  Tuesday  the  9th  of 
February  that  the  first  great  debate  on  the  whole  subject 
of  Church  Reform  took  place  in  the  Commons.  The  debate 
was  b-propos  of  the  various  petitions  that  had  been  presented 
on  the  subject,  and  more  particularly  of  the  two  typical  peti- 
tions, that  of  the  City  of  London  praying  for  Root-and- 
Branch,aud  that  of  the  700  Ministers  pray  ing  for  the  limitation 
of  Episcopal  power.  In  the  main,  the  debate  was  between  the 
partisans  of  the  more  moderate  and  those  of  the  more  vehe- 
ment petition,  with  scarcely  a  voice  in  behalf  of  the  High 
( 'liurch  party.  The  best  speaking  was  on  behalf  of  Limited 
Episcopacy  as  against  Root-and- Branch  Reform.  Among  the 
speakers  on  this  side  were  Lord  Digby,  Lord  Falkland,  Sir 


216  LIFE  OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

Benjamin  Kudyard,  and  Mr.  Harbottle  Grimstone.  Lord 
Digby's  and  Lord  Falkland's  were  the  great  speeches. 
"  There  is  no  man  within  these  walls,"  said  Lord  Digby, 
"  more  sensible  of  the  heavy  grievance  of  Church-government 
"  than  myself,  nor  whose  affections  are  keener  to  the  clipping 
"  of  those  wings  of  the  Prelates  whereby  they  have  mounted 
"  to  such  insolencies."  Nevertheless,  he  was  against  the 
prayer  of  the  London  petition,  which  seemed  to  him  as  "  a 
"  comet  or  blazing  star  raised  and  kindled  out  of  the  stench, 
"  out  of  the  poisonous  exhalation,  of  a  corrupted  hierarchy  "  : 
nay,  "  methought  the  comet  had  a  terrible  tail  with  it,  Sir, 
"  and  pointed  to  the  North."  Because  wine  made  some  men 
drunk,  was  wine  to  be  absolutely  abjured  ?  "  Let  us  not 
"  destroy  Bishops,  but  make  Bishops  such  as  they  were  in  the 
"  primitive  times.  Do  their  large  territories,  their  large  re- 
"  venues,  offend  ?  Let  them  be  retrenched  :  the  good  Bishop 
"  of  Hippo  had  but  a  narrow  diocese  !  Do  their  courts  and 
"  subordinates  offend  ?  Let  them  be  brought  to  govern,  as  in 
"  primitive  times,  by  assemblies  of  their  clergy  !  Doth  their 
"  intermeddling  in  secular  affairs  offend  ?  Exclude  them 
"  from  the  capacity:  it  is  no  more  than  what  reason  and 
•"  all  antiquity  hath  interdicted  them."  So  argued  Lord 
Digby ;  and  Lord  Falkland  spoke  in  the  same  strain.  The 
first  part  of  his  speech  was  one  tremendous  onslaught  on  the 
Bishops  and  their  adherents.  They  had  been  "  the  destruc- 
tion of  unity  under  pretence  of  uniformity  "  ;  they  had  "  tithed 
mint  and  anise,  and  left  undone  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law "  ;  they  had  been  "  like  the  hen  in  ^Esop,"  fattened 
with  barley  till  it  could  lay  no  more  eggs ;  they  had  been, 
some  of  them,  so  "  absolutely,  directly,  and  cordially  Papists, 
"  that  it  is  all  that  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a  year  can  do  to 
"  keep  them  from  confessing  it " ;  they  had  been,  in  respect 
of  their  action  upon  English  liberties,  the  successors  of  those 
who  "  in  the  darkest  times,  had  excommunicated  the  makers 
of  Magna  Charta  "  ;  they  had  been  the  cause  of  that  Scottish 
Service- Book  the  particular  author  of  which  had  "  no  doubt 
long  since  wished,  with  Nero,"  that  he  had  never  known 
how  to  write ;  they  had  been  "  the  almost  sole  abettors  "  of 


1640-41. J     riirijCH-u-.r.'UM   DKMATK  IN    i  m:  COMMONS.          1M  7 

Strafford'8  tyranny,  first  in  Ireland,  "where  he  had  com- 
"  mitted  so  many  mighty  and  so  manifest  enormities  and 
"  oppressions  as  the  like  have  not  been  committed  in  any 
"  government  since  Verres  left  Sicily,"  and  next  in  England, 
•  hiring  that  time  when  "all  things  were  governed  by  a 
Junctillo,  and  that  Junctillo  was  governed  by  him."  Taking 
breath  after  an  outburst  of  accusations  of  which  this  is  but 
a  fraction,  Falkland  proceeded  to  show  why  yet  he  could  not 
vote  for  the  Root-and- Branch  abolition  of  Episcopacy.  "  If 
not  the  first  planters  of  Christianity,"  he  said, "  yet  the  first 
spreaders  and  the  first  and  chief  defenders  of  it  had  been 
bishops  " ;  nay,  in  the  worst  of  times,  and  even  recently  in 
Midland  itself,  there  had  been  good  bishops ;  and,  though  he 
did  not  believe  bishops  to  be  jure  divino,  nay,  believed  them 
"  not  to  be  jure  divino"  yet  neither  did  he  believe  them,  if 
wisely  regulated,  "  to  be  injurid  humand."  Wise  regulation 
was  everything.  Let  Bishops  be  deprived  of  "  their  temporal 
title,  power,  and  employment,"  even  to  their  exclusion  from 
Parliament ;  but  let  not  the  name  and  office  of  Bishop  be  abo- 
lished in  England  !  So  spoke  Falkland,  and  so  spoke  others  ; 
Selden,  who  did  not  himself  come  forward  as  a  speaker,  assist- 
ing the  speakers,  and  supplying  them  with  arguments.  Against 
such  a  phalanx  of  orators,  supported  by  such  an  encyclopaedia 
of  learning,  the  Root-and-Branch  speakers  seem  to  have  come 
off  but  second-best.  Nathaniel  Fiennes  was  the  chief  speaker 
on  this  side,  but  the  younger  Vane  and  Mr.  Bagshaw  (member 
for  Southwark)  also  stood  up  with  some  effect.  But,  though 
comparatively  deficient  in  speaking -power,  the  Root-and- 
Branch  party  was  strong  in  voting-power ;  and  at  the  end  of 
the  debate  it  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  35  to  refer  not 
only  the  Ministers'  Petition,  but  also  the  London  Petition 
and  all  the  others,  to  a  Committee  of  Religion  already 
appointed  by  the  House,  and  to  which  the  names  of  Mr. 
Fiennes,  the  younger  Vane,  and  several  other  Root-and- 
IJranch  men,  were  now  added.  They  were  to  consider  the 
Church- Reform  question  in  its  entire  depth  and  breadth,  and 
report  to  the  House.1 

i  Rtwhworth,IV.  170—188  ;  Common*  Journals  ;  Noal,  11.396—404  ;  Buillio,  I.  302. 


218  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS  TIME. 

For  about  a  month  the  Committee  sat  three  times  a  week. 
They  were  unanimous  for  measures  of  Church  Eeform  which 
should  completely  alter  the  nature  of  Episcopacy  in  England  ; 
but  as  to  the  utter  abolition  of  Episcopacy  there  was  a 
division  of  opinion.  The  Root-and-Branch  members  of  the 
Committee  were  in  a  minority.  In  these  circumstances  it 
was  considered  most  important  by  the  Eoot- and -Branch 
leaders  that  the  pressure  from  without  should  be  increased. 
Accordingly,  while  the  Committee  sat,  there  appeared  several 
pamphlets  written  expressly  in  the  interest  of  Root-and- 
Branch  opinions,  and  against  any  preservation  of  Episcopacy 
with  whatever  limitations.  Even  before  the  debate  in  the 
Commons  there  had  appeared  (Jan.  29)  a  tract  of  this  kind, 
written,  at  the  request  of  the  Puritan  ministers  in  London, 
by  Alexander  Henderson,  and  entitled  The  Unlawfulness 
and  Danger  of  Limited  Prelacy  or  Perpetual  Presidency  in  the 
Church.  As  the  pens  of  the  Scottish  deputation  were  natu- 
rally readiest  for  the  service,  and  as  it  was  necessary  to  do 
everything  to  counteract  at  once  the  advantage  which  Limited 
Episcopacy  views  might  have  gained  by  the  circulation  in 
print  of  the  recent  speeches  of  Digby  and  Falkland,  and  by 
the  great  respect  due  to  Selden,  there  were  now  added  to  this 
tract  of  Henderson's  a  new  edition  by  Baillie  of  his  Canter- 
burians'  Self -Conviction,  adapted  for  English  readers,  and  a 
further  essay  by  Baillie  on  the  Unlawfulness  and  Danger  of 
Limited  Episcopacy,  intended  as  a  sequel  to  Henderson's. 
There  appeared,  moreover,  "  a  short  treatise,  much  wanted," 
by  Henderson,  on  The  Discipline  of  the  Presbyterian  Kirk 
of  Scotland,  a  pamphlet  by  Gillespie  on  The  Grounds  of 
Preslyterial  Government,  and  one  by  Blair  in  reply  to  Bishop 
Hall's  Humble  Remonstrance}-  But,  though  it  was  well 
to  have  such  auxiliary  tracts  from  the  Scottish  deputies  in 
London,  it  was  time  that  the  English  Puritan  ministers  of 
the  Root-and-Branch  party  should  be  making  some  literary 
demonstration  for  themselves.  In  fact,  such  a  demonstration 
was  forthcoming ;  and  the  Scottish  tracts  were  but  a  stop- 
gap till  it  should  be  ready.  At  length  it  was  ready,  and  on 

i  Baillie,  I.  292  and  303. 


1640-41.]  Til!  ) M/.Vrr.v    I'AMl'III  219 

or  about  the  20th  of  March  1640-41,  there  were  lying  in  a 
bookseller's  shop  in  Pope's  Head  Alley,  and  finding  their 
way  thence  into  the  houses  of  the  citizens,  copies  of  a  small 
quarto  of  104  pages,  with  the  following  portentous  title :  "  An 
Answer  to  a  Book  entitulcd  '  An  Humble  Remonstrance ' ;  in 
which  the  originall  of  Liturgy  [and]  Episcopacy  is  discussed 
and  quceres  propounded  concerning  both,  the  parity  of  Bishops 
and  Presbyters  in  Scripture  demonstrated,  the  occasion  of  their 
unparity  in  Antiquity  discovered,  the  disparity  of  the  ancient 
and  our  modern  Bishops  manifested,  the  antiquity  of  Ruling 
Elders  in  the  Church  vindicated,  the  Prelaticall  Church  bounded : 
Written  by  SMECTYMNUUS."  l 

"  SMECTYMNUUS  !     The  goblin  makes  me  start. 
I'  the  name  of  Itobbi  Abraham,  what  art  ? " 

So  wrote  the  satirist  Cleveland  on  the  appearance  of  the 
pamphlet,  expressing  the  half-comic  wonder  with  which  the 
name  SMECTYMNUUS  was  everywhere  greeted.  Yet  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  especial  mystery  made  about  the 
authorship.  Stephen  Marshall,  Edmund  Calamy,  Thomas 
Young,  Matthew  Newcomen,and  William  Spurstow,  had  deter- 
mined on  a  joint  pamphlet  on  the  Church- question,  which 
should  take  the  form  of  a  reply  to  Hall's  Humble  Remon- 
strance. When  the  pamphlet  was  finished  (and  we  have 
the  means  of  knowing  that  Young  had  the  largest  hand  in 
it 2),  there  was  naturally  some  difficulty  in  finding  a  name  to 
put  on  the  title-page,  and  there  occurred  to  the  five  friends 
the  bright  idea  of  combining  their  initials  thus :  S.  M.,  E.  C., 
T.  Y.,  M.  N.,  U.  U.  (for  W.)  S.  Hence  the  goblin  that  made 
Cleveland  start.  Cleveland,  it  is  pretty  clear,  knew  all  about 
it ;  for  a  good  part  of  his  poem  consists  of  all  sorts  of  jokes  on 
the  birth  of  such  a  monstrosity  as  this  quintuple  organism  of 
the  wits  of  five  Puritan  parsons  rolled  into  one.  He  compares 
it  to  some  case,  like  that  of  the  Siamese  Twins  of  a  later  day, 

1  "  London :  Printed  for  J.  Roth  well ;  tho  Commons  for  licensing  books.    This 

and  are  to  be  sold  by  T.   N.  at  the  determines  tho  date  of  publication. 

Hil.lu   in    Pope's  Head  Alloy :    1641."  »  Baillio,   I.    366 ;   whore  Young  w 

I  find  the  book  registered  at  Stationers'  called   "the  author  of  Diet  Dominica 

Hall  as  tho  property  of  "  Mr.  Roth  well,  and  of  the  Smectymuum  for  the  most 

iunr.,  "and  as  licensed  by  Sir  Edward  |«irt."     Baillio's  authority  is  dootrif*  Oft 

Doenng  in  tho  name  of  a  Committee  of  this  j»oint. 


220  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

which  had  recently  been  imported  from  Italy,  and  exhibited 
at  fairs : — 

"  The  Italian  monster  pregnant  with  his  brother, 
Nature's  diaeresis,  half  one-another, 
He,  with  his  little  sidesman  Lazarus, 
Must  both  give  way  unto  Smectymnuus. 
Next  Sturbridge  fair  is  SMEC'S  ;  for  lo  !  his  side 
Into  a  fivefold  Lazar's  multiplied  : 
Under  each  arm  there's  tucked  a  double  gizzard ; 
Five  faces  lurk  under  a  single  vizard." 

Nay,  farther : — 

"The  Sadducees  would  raise  a  question 
Who  must  be  SMEC  at  the  Resurrection." l 

The  very  oddity  of  the  name,  however,  helped  the  circulation 
of  the  pamphlet,  and  it  seems  to  have  at  once  found  its  way 
to  Cambridge  (where  probably  Cleveland  saw  it)  and  to  Oxford. 
It  is  on  the  whole  a  rather  heavy  and  leathery  performance, 
about  five  times  as  long,  if  we  allow  for  the  smaller  print,  as 
Hall's  Humble  Remonstrance,  to  which  it  professes  to  be  an 
answer,  and  indeed  involving  as  well  Hall's  previous  and 
larger  treatise,  Episcopacy  by  Divine  Right.  But  it  is  dis- 
tinguished not  disadvantageously  from  Hall's  later  tract  by  a 
closer  reasoning  of  the  matters  discussed.  It  is  addressed, 
like  Hall's  Eemonstrance,  to  the  Parliament.  "  Most 
"  Honourable  Lords,"  it  begins,  "  and  ye,  the  Knights, 
"  Citizens,  and  Burgesses  of  the  Honourable  House  of  Com- 
"  mons,  although  we  doubt  not  but  that  book  which  wak 
"  lately  directed  to  your  Honours,  bearing  the  name  of  An 
"  Humble  Remonstrance,  hath  had  access  unto  your  presence, 
"  and  is,  in  the  first  approaches  of  it,  discovered  by  your  dis- 
"  cerning  spirit  to  be  neither  Humble  nor  a  Eemonstrance, 
"  but  a  heap  of  confident  and  unfounded  assertions,  so  that  to 
"  your  Honours  a  reply  may  seem  superfluous,  yet,"  &c.  In 
five  pages  of  such  preliminary  matter  there  is  farther  criticism 
on  Hall's  style  as  "  swelled  with  passionate  rhetorications," 
instead  of  real  arguments.  "  It  was  a  constitution  of  these 

i  Cleveland's  Works  (edit.  1661),  pp.  37—41. 


1640-41.]  THE  SUM ••/•)•. \fXUUS  PAMPHLET.  221 

"  admired  sons  of  justice,  the  Areopagi,  that  such  us  pleaded 
"  before  them  should  plead  without  prefacing  and  without 
"  passion :  had  your  Honours  made  such  a  constitution,  this 
"  Remonstrance  must  have  been  banished  from  the  face  of 
"  your  Assembly."  The  critics  then  pass  on  to  Hall's  two 
heads  of  the  Liturgy  and  Episcopacy.  To  the  subject  of  the 
Liturgy  only  nine  pages  are  devoted,  the  general  conclusion 
being  that  Liturgies  are  at  best  but  helps,  and  that  the  exist- 
ing Liturgy,  if  retained  at  all,  would  require  great  revision. 
About  seventy  pages  are  then  given  to  the  question  of  Epi- 
scopacy ;  and  there  is  a  Postscript,  of  twenty  pages,  giving  a 
summary  sketch  of  the  history  of  Bishops  in  England  from 
Augustine  downwards,  intended  to  show  that  they  had  always 
been  the  causes  of  disloyalty  to  the  Crown,  and  of  general 
turbulence.  The  argument  is  pursued  in  a  grave,  plodding 
manner,  with  abundance  of  learned  quotations  from  the 
Fathers  and  of  marginal  references,  and  with  a  close  following 
of  Hall's  assertions,  one  by  one,  cited  in  his  own  words. 
Sometimes  there  is  a  little  briskness ;  as  when,  in  answer  to 
Hall's  assertion  that  by  "  the  joint  confession  of  all  Reformed 
Divines  "  Episcopacy  was  derived  from  the  Apostles,  they  ex- 
claim, "  What !  All  Reformed  Divines  ?  Was  Calvin,  Beza, 
"  Junius,  &c.,  of  that  mind  ?  Are  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
"  France,  Scotland,  Netherlands,  of  that  judgment  ? "  Not 
content  with  these  interrogations,  they  proceed,  in  words  which 
fall  on  the  ear  with  very  unfortunate  effect  now  :  "  We  shall 
"  show  anon  that  there  is  no  more  truth  in  this  assertion  than 
"  if  he  had  said,  with  Anaxagoras,  '  Snow  is  black,'  or,  with 
"  Copernicus, '  The  Earth  moves  and  the  Heavens  stand  still.'  " 
Strange  to  find  that  in  1G41  the  Copernican  theory  could  still 
be  cited  as  a  universally  admitted  example  of  delusion  !— 
We  may  add  that  the  writers  of  the  pamphlet  observe 
the  etiquette  of  the  anonymous,  and  never  directly  name 
1 1  all  as  the  author  of  the  Remonstrance.  The  Remon- 
strant, they  say,  had  surely  conspired  with  Bishop  Hull  to 
repeat  all  the  assertions  made  in  Ejnscopacy  by  Divine 
Eight ;  and,  though  they  could  not  of  course  "  enter  the  lists 
with  a  man  <>f  that  K-aniing  and  fame  that  Bishop  Hall  is," 


222  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

yet  with  his  echo,  the  Remonstrant,  they  would  stand  on 
no  ceremony. 

Before  the  pamphlet  of  Smectymnuus  was  out,  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Commons  had  brought  in  their  Eeport  (March 
9).  It  propounded  for  the  consideration  of  the  House  three 
distinct  courses  of  Parliamentary  action  as  necessary  to  any- 
thing like  a  complete  solution  of  the  Church -question.  First, 
there  must  be  an  exclusion  of  the  Bishops,  and  of  the  clergy 
generally,  from  all  State  offices  and  employments ;  secondly, 
there  must  be  a  limitation  of  the  power  of  the  Bishops  in  the 
Church  itself,  and  an  introduction  of  more  of  the  democratic 
element  into  the  system  of  Church-government ;  and,  thirdly, 
there  must  be  a  reduction  and  application  to  State  purposes 
of  the  great  revenues  of  Deans,  Chapters,  and  other  ecclesias- 
tical foundations.  For  a  Eeport  stopping  short  of  complete 
Root-and-Branch,  nothing  could  well  be  more  revolutionary. 
Nor  did  the  House  merely  receive  the  Keport  and  keep  it  in 
reserve.  At  once  they  proceeded  to  give  effect  to  its  recom- 
mendations under  at  least  the  first  of  the  three  heads  sub- 
mitted to  them.  On  March  10  they  resolved,  after  debate, 
"  That  the  Legislative  and  Judicial  power  of  Bishops  in  the 
"  House  of  Peers  in  Parliament  is  a  great  hindrance  to  the 
"  discharge  of  their  Spiritual  functions,  prejudicial  to  the 
"  Commonwealth,  and  fit  to  be  taken  away  by  Bill  "  ;  and  this 
was  immediately  followed  by  similar  resolutions  declaring  that 
the  service  of  Bishops  or  any  clergymen  whatever  in  Com- 
missions of  the  Peace  or  in  any  Civil  Courts,  and  their  pre- 
sence in  the  Privy  Council,  were  equally  "  hindrances  to  the 
"  discharge  of  their  Spiritual  functions,  prejudicial  to  the 
"  Commonwealth,  and  fit  to  be  taken  away  by  Bill."  Nay,  one 
Bill  comprehending  the  general  drift  of  these  Resolutions  was 
brought  in,  entitled  "  A  Bill  to  restrain  Bishops  and  others  in 
Holy  Orders  from  intermeddling  with  secular  affairs."  It  was 
brought  in  March  30,  1641,  and  read  a  second  time  April  1. 
This  Bill,  accordingly,  became  for  the  time  the  pi&ce  de 
resistance  of  the  whole  controversy.  •  It  by  no  means  in- 
cluded all,  it  will  be  observed,  that  the  Commons  had  in 
meditation,  according  even  to  the  Report  of  their  Committee. 


1640-41.]  BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL  :    PETITIONS.  223 

It  embodied  only  the  Resolutions  of  the  Commons  on  the 
first  of  the  three  heads  of  the  Report,  leaving  the  other  two 
questions  open.  But  one  Bill  at  a  time  was  enough.1 

The  delay  in  the  progress  even  of  the  one  Bill  caused  by 
Stratford's  trial  gave  opportunity  to  those  whom  the  Bill 
alarmed  for  expressing  their  alarm.  Among  the  petitions 
from  counties  and  cities  which  had  been  dropping  in, some  were 
decidedly  Pro-Episcopal.  From  an  examination  of  these  Pro- 
Episcopal  petitions  (of  which  there  were  to  be  in  all,  before 
the  controversy  was  over,  thirteen  from  English  and  five  from 
Welsh  counties),  Mr.  Hallam  was  disposed  to  think  that  the  Root- 
and-Branch  reformers  were  very  far  from  forming  a  numerical 
majority  in  the  nation.  He  refers  particularly  to  one  petition 
to  the  Lords  from  Somersetshire,  signed  by  14,350  freeholders 
and  other  inhabitants, in  which,  while  the  petitioners  "  heartily 
wish  "  for  a  restoration  of  the  Church  to  its  former  purity," 
and  for  the  punishment  of  "  the  wittingly  and  maliciously 
guilty"  among  the  bishops  and  clergy,  they  remonstrate 
against "  the  destruction  of  the  Government. "  Now,  it  would  be 
difficult,  from  such  statistics  as  the  petitions  of  the  period  fur- 
nish, to  come  to  a  sound  conclusion  as  to  the  relative  strength  of 
the  Root-and-Branch  party  and  the  Moderate-Reform  party 
throughout  the  entire  nation  ;  and,  as  regards  certain  parts  of 
Ki inland,  Mr.  Hallam's  conjecture  may  be  right.  That  he  has 
underrated,  however,  the  strength  of  the  Root-and-Branch 
party  as  a  whole  is  rendered  probable  by  various  evidences. 
Among  them  may  be  cited  that  furnished  by  a  comparison 
of  two  conflicting  petitions  from  the  single  county  of  Chester 
(April  2).  While  what  may  be  called  the  Pro-Episcopal 
petition  purports  to  be  signed  by  four  noblemen,  fourscore 
and  odd  knights-baronets,  knights,  and  esquires,  seventy 
divines,  over  300  gentlemen,  and  over  6,000  freeholders  and 
other  inhabitants,  the  Anti-Kpiscopal  petition  from  the  same 
county  purports  to  be  signed  almost  exactly  two  to  one, — 
i.e.  by  eight  noblemen,  199  knights- baronets,  knights,  and 
« -squires,  140  divines,  757  gentlemen,  and  over  12,000  free- 
holders and  other  inhabitants.2  I  call  this  latter  petition 

1  Commons  Journals  of  date*  cited  ;  *  Printed  copied  of  Itoth  petition*  in 

Hiwhworth,  IV.  206  7  :  Huilli*-.  I.  307-8.       8.  I',  o.  m,.K  r  .l.,to  April  li,  ItJII. 


224  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF   HIS   TIME. 

Anti-Episcopal  because  of  its  strong  expressions  against  "  the 
lordly  prelates,"  their  "  white  rochets,"  &c. ;  but  it  is  possible 
that,  though  it  thus  looks  in  the  main  Koot-and-Branch,  many 
of  those  who  signed  it  did  not  contemplate  an  absolute  aboli- 
tion either  of  Bishops  or  of  the  Liturgy. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  Bishop  Williams  came  cha- 
racteristically to  the  front.  The  Lords,  though  they  had, 
of  course,  discussed  matters  of  religion  as  well  as  the  Com- 
mons, had  yet  abstained,  in  the  main,  from  any  investigation 
of  the  Church-problem  for  themselves,  and  waited  till  the 
solution  of  the  problem  by  the  Commons  should  come  up  for 
their  criticism.  But,  now  that  the  nature  of  the  solution  by 
the  Commons  was  pretty  well  known,  it  was  natural  that 
the  Lords  should  begin  to  bestir  themselves.  Might  it  not 
be  well  that,  before  the  Bill  of  the  Commons  should  reach 
the  Upper  House,  that  House  should  have  shaped  out  some 
conclusions  of  its  own  with  which  to  receive  and  compare 
the  Bill  ?  Availing  himself  of  these  feelings,  or  perhaps 
exciting  them,  Williams  had  procured  the  appointment  by 
the  Upper  House,  on  the  1st  of  March,  or  about  a  month 
before  the  actual  introduction  of  the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill 
into  the  Commons,  of  a  Committee  of  ten  Bishops,  and  about 
thirty  lay  peers,  with  himself  as  chairman,  to  consider  and 
report  to  the  House  on  the  means  of  settling  the  peace  of  the 
Church.  This  Committee  was  empowered  to  call  before  it 
divines  and  doctors  of  all  shades  of  opinion,  and  to  examine 
them  and  confer  with  them  on  all  matters,  as  well  of 
doctrine  as  of  discipline.  It  is  curious  to  observe  the 
different  judgments  on  this  scheme  of  Williams,  pronounced 
from  opposite  quarters.  To  Laud  in  his  prison  it  seemed 
simply  detestable  ;  to  Baillie  and  his  party,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  seemed  "  a  trick  of  the  Bishops."  There  were  others,  how- 
ever, such  as  the  historian  Fuller,  who  believed  that  good 
might  come  from  the  conferences  of  the  Committee  if  they 
were  rightly  managed.  And  Williams  spared  no  pains  to 
make  them  successful.  Day  after  day,  for  six  days  at  least, 
there  met  at  his  house,  the  Deanery  of  Westminster,  in  the 
famous  room  known  as  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  about  as 


1840-41.]  WILUAMS'S  CONFERENCES.  225 

eclectic  a  gathering  of  divines  as  could  be  got  together.  They 
met  there,  not  so  much  to  be  merely  examined  as  witnesses 
by  the  Bishop  and  his  fellow  committee-men  of  the  Lords,  as 
tosit  alongwith  them  deliberating  confidentially,and  partaking 
all  the  while  of  "  such  bountiful  cheer  "  as  Williams  knew  how 
to  bestow.  In  addition  to  Williams  himself,  Bishop  Hall,  and 
Bishop  Morton  of  Durham,  there  were  present  the  following, 
among  others : — Usher ;  Dr.  Samuel  Ward,  Master  of  Sidney- 
Sussex  College,  Cambridge;  Dr.  John  Prideaux,  Dean  of 
Exeter  College,  Oxford,  and  Vice-chancellor  of  the  University  ; 
Dr.  William  Twisse,  Rector  of  Newbury,  Berks ;  Dr.  Kobert 
Sanderson,  chaplain  to  the  King ;  Dr.  Daniel  Featley,  Provost 
of  Chelsea  College  and  Rector  of  Lambeth ;  Dr.  Ralph 
Brownrigg,  Master  of  Catherine  Hall,  Cambridge  ;  Dr.  Richard 
Holdsworth,  Master  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge ;  Dr. 
John  Hacket,  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  and  Pre- 
bendary of  St.  Paul's  ;  Mr.  Thomas  Hill,  Rector  of  Tichnmrsh, 
Northamptonshire ;  Dr.  Cornelius  Burges  of  Watford,  and 
another  Puritan  minister  of  note,  Mr.  John  White  of  Dor- 
chester, called  "  Patriarch  White " ;  nay,  actually,  at  least 
three  of  the  Sinectymnuans — Marshall,  Calamy,  and  Young. 
What  a  "  happy  family  "  the  assembly  must  have  been  may 
be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  the  three  Smectymnuans,  while 
seated  opposite  Bishop  Hall,  may  have  had  proof-sheets  of 
their  pamphlet  against  Hall,  or  completed  copies  of  it  (for  it 

came  out  that  very  week),  in  their  pockets. On  the  whole, 

the  conferences  led  to  little.  Under  the  head  of  "  Innovations 
in  Doctrine "  it  was  agreed  that  during  Laud's  supremacy 
the  Church  had  backslidden  into  Popish  tenets  and  become 
clouded  with  Arminianism ;  under  the  head  of  "  Innovations  in 
Discipline  "  it  was  agreed  that  ceremonies  had  been  needlessly 
iniiltipliiMl,  and  that  there  had  been  a  mischievous  and  in- 
quisitorial harshness  on  the  part  of  bishops ;  respecting  the 
Liturgy,  some  revision  at  least  was  contended  for  by  most ; 
and,  as  regarded  the  great  matter  of  the  future  reorganization 
of  the  Church  with  a  view  to  adapt  Episcopacy  to  the  spirit 
of  the  age, — why,  on  that  subject  Bishop  Williams  himself 
was  preparing  a  "  draft,"  which  he  hoped  would  satisfy  the 
VOL.  li  Q 


226  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

brethren  !  Of  one  thing  people  might  be  sure.  Whatever 
might  be  the  nature  of  Williams's  "  draft,"  and  however 
far  it  might  go  in  the  direction  of  a  Broad  Church,  it  would 
not  exclude  Bishops  from  Parliament  and  from  State  offices. 
Of  all  men  living  Williams  was  the  least  likely  to  hear  of 
such  a  proposition  with  patience.  Had  he  not  himself  sat 
on  the  woolsack,  and  was  it  not  his  ambition  even  now  to  re- 
enter  the  world  of  politics,  and  show  what  a  head  for  State 
affairs  might  be  covered  by  a  mitre  ? x 

Before  Williams  could  bring  the  result  of  his  Conferences 
to  bear,  or  have  his  draft  of  Church  Eeform  ready,  the 
dreaded  Bill  from  the  Commons  came  up  to  the  Lords.  It 
passed  the  Commons  on  the  1st  of  May,  Hyde  opposing  it  on 
the  third  reading,  but  his  friend  Falkland  supporting  it  with 
a  vehemence  which  astonished  Hyde.  It  was  the  moment  of 
the  very  crisis  of  Stafford's  fate.  Hence,  though  the  Bill 
was  introduced  into  the  Lords  on  May  1,  it  was  not  till  the 
14th  of  May,  or  two  days  after  Stafford's  death,  that  the 
Lords  began  the  discussion  of  it  on  the  second  reading.  For 
three  weeks,  in  the  House  or  in  Committee,  the  discussion  was 
continued.  Both  Hall  and  Williams  spoke  against  the  Bill. 
Hall  pronounced  it  "  the  strangest  bill  he  had  ever  heard 
since  he  sat  under  that  roof,"  admitted  that  perhaps  the 
power  of  bishops  in  judicatures  might  be  conveniently 
abridged,  but  defended  their  presence  in  Parliament.  Wil- 
liams, though  he  conceded  that  the  exclusion  of  churchmen 
from  the  Council- table  and  Commissions  of  the  Peace  might 
be  carried  "  without  the  regret  of  any  wise  ecclesiastical 
persons,"  was  equally  emphatic  on  the  main  point.  Had 
not  Calvin  and  Beza,  he  asked,  intermeddled  with  State 
affairs,  "  carrying  all  the  Council  of  the  State  of  Geneva 
under  their  gowns  ? "  Nay, — and  here  he  made  a  really 
clever  homethrust, — "  you  have  all  heard  (and,  I  know,  much 
"  good  by  his  former  writings)  of  a  learned  man,  called  Mr. 
"  Henderson,  and  most  of  your  lordships  understand  better 
"  than  I  what  employment  he  hath  at  this  time  in  this 
"  kingdom."  Among  the  lay  peers  the  most  strenuous  oppo- 

1  Lords'  Journals  ;  Fuller's  Church  History,  XI.  46  ;  Baillie,  I,  308—9, 


1640-41.]  BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL:  UNIVERSITY  PETITIONS.    227 

nent  of  the  Bill  was  the  Earl  of  Kingston,  while  the  chief 
speaker  for  it  was  Saye  and  Sela  On  the  minor  enactments 
of  the  Bill,  excluding  Bishops  from  the  Privy  Council,  from 
Commissions  of  the  Peace,  &c.,  the  Lords,  with  but  two 
dissentient  voices,  were  willing  to  go  with  the  Commons ; 
but  on  the  main  provision,  excluding  the  Bishops  from  Par- 
liament, they  stood  unexpectedly  firm.  A  conference  ensued 
between  them  and  the  Commons ;  and  the  Commons  tried  to 
shake  their  firmness  by  offering  them  (June  4)  formal  Reasons 
for  the  removal  of  Bishops  from  Parliamentary  power.  All 
in  vain.  Williams  prepared  replies  to  these  Keasons  of  the 
Commons,  which  were  afterwards  printed ;  and  the  Lords 
showed  their  disregard  for  them  by  their  final  vote  on  the 
third  reading.  That  vote  occurred  June  8,  when  the  Bishops 
Exclusion  Bill  was  rejected  in  gross  by  the  Lords,  in  a  pretty 
full  House,  by  a  clear  majority  of  sixteen,  apart  from  the 
votes  of  the  Bishops  themselves.1 

There  were  other  evidences,  besides  this  rejection  of  the 
Bishops  Exclusion  Bill  by  the  Lords,  that  the  wain  of  Church 
Reform  had  reached  a  point  where  it  would  be  in  dangerof  stick- 
ing fast  unless  there  were  many  shoulders  to  the  wheels.  Not 
only  on  the  question  of  the  civil  power  of  Bishops  was  there 
a  gathering  of  conservative  resistance.  There  was  the  same 
resistance  on  those  other  two  questions  on  which  the  Com- 
mons had  reserved  legislative  action  :  the  question  of  Deans 
and  Chapters,  or  the  reduction  of  Cathedral  Establishments ; 
and  the  question  of  the  best  future  model  for  the  government 
of  the  Church  so  as  to  limit  Prelacy.  On  the  12th  of  May, 
for  example  (the  very  day  of  Stafford's  execution),  there  had 
been  presented  to  the  Commons,  with  quite  unusual  solem- 
nity, two  most  important  petitions  from  the  Universities. 
The  petition  from  the  University  of  Oxford,  adopted  "in 
celebri  conwntu  Doctorum  et  Magistrorum,  omnibus  et  singulis 
assentientibus,"  deprecated  any  attack  on  Cathedral  Estab- 
lishments, vindicating  them  as  ancient  and  approved  founda- 
tions, as  "  a  motive  and  encouragement "  to  students,  especially 

1  I'  irl.  HiMt.  II.  774—776,  and  792—       281—2  ;  and  Fuller's  Church  Hi«t.  (od. 
811  ;  Lords'  Journal*  ;  Ruahworth,  IV.       1842)  III.  423. 


228  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

in  divinity,  and  as  affording  not  only  the  fittest  means  of 
reward  for  "  some  deep  and  eminent  scholars,"  but  also 
"  a  competent  portion,  in  an  ingenious  way,  to  many  younger 
brothers  of  good  parentage  who  devote  themselves  to  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel."  But  not  only  did  the  petition 
vindicate  Cathedral  Establishments :  it  ventured  on  a  com- 
prehensive reference  to  the  question  of  Church  Government, 
begging  leave  for  the  petitioners  "  in  all  humility  to  desire 
"  the  continuance  of  that  form  of  government  which  is  now 
"  established  here,  and  hath  been  preserved  in  some  of  the 
"  Eastern  and  Western  Churches,  in  a  continued  succession 
"  of  Bishops,  down  from  the  very  Apostles  to  the  present 
"  time."  "While  the  Oxford  petition  was  thus  Pro-Episcopal, 
as  well  as  in  favour  of  Deans  and  Chapters,  the  petition  from 
Cambridge  confined  itself  to  the  question  of  Deans  and 
Chapters,  and  said  nothing  on  the  wider  question,  except  by 
implication.  But  there  were  not  only  the  petitions  them- 
selves. By  the  leave  of  the  House,  Dr.  Hacket  was  heard  in 
favour  of  the  views  of  the  petitioners  as  regarded  the  pre- 
servation of  Deaneries,  Canonries,  Prebends,  &c.,  while  Dr. 
Cornelius  Burges  was  heard  as  spokesman  for  the  Puritan 
ministers  on  the  other  side.  Dr.  Hacket's  speech  was  thought 
a  masterpiece.  "  He  insisted,"  says  Fuller,  "  on  the  advance- 
"  ment  of  learning  as  the  proper  use  and  convenience  of 
"  cathedrals,  each  of  them  being  a  small  academy  for  the 
"  champions  of  Christ's  cause  against  the  adversary  by  their 
"  learned  pens.  Here  he  proffered  to  prove,  by  a  catalogue 
"  of  their  names  and  works  which  he  could  produce,  that 
"  most  of  the  excellent  labours  in  this  kind,  excepting  some 
"  few,  have  proceeded  from  persons  preferred  in  the  Cathe- 
"  drals  or  the  Universities.  Now,  what  a  disheartening  it 
"  would  be  to  young  students  if  such  promotions  were 
"  taken  away  !  "  l 

The  wide  sympathy  and  applause  with  which  Hacket's 
speech  was  received  by  many  in  Parliament,  as  well  as  out  of 
doors,  was  a  sign  of  such  a  joining  of  forces  in  the  ranks  of  the 
High  Church  Party  and  the  Middle  Party  as  could  hardly 

i  Fuller,  III.  418—423 ;  and  Rushworth,  IV.  270—273,  and  280—282, 


1640-41.]  USHEK'S  INTERPOSITION.  229 

have  been  anticipated  Usher  himself  was  coming  forward 
to  the  rescue  from  Root-and-Braiich.  From  time  to  time 
since  the  opening  of  the  Parliament  this  learned  Primate's 
views  had  been  cited  and  appealed  to  on  different  sides.  It 
was  rumoured  that,  with  the  King's  approval,  he  had  been 
drawing  up  plans  for  an  ecclesiastical  conciliation ;  and,  on 
one  occasion  (Feb.  9),  he  had  complained  to  the  Commons 
of  the  unauthorized  publication,  in  his  name,  of  some  such 
plan.  But,  now  that  all  men's  minds  were  in  confusion, 
and  that  the  real  question  might  be  not  between  a  better  or 
a  worse  form  of  Episcopacy,  but  between  Episcopacy  in  any 
form  and  its  abolition,  it  was  eagerly  desired  by  all  the 
defenders  of  Episcopacy  that  Usher  should  openly  help  them. 
Hall,  overburdened  with  the  work,  was  especially  anxious 
for  the  co-operation  of  the  popular  Low-Church  Archbishop. 
"  That  which  fell  from  me  yesterday  suddenly  and  transcur- 
"  sively,"  we  find  him  writing  to  Usher,  "  hath  since  taken 
"  up  my  after-midnight  thoughts,  and  I  must  crave  leave 
"  what  then  I  moved  to  importune, — that  your  Grace  would 
"  be  pleased  to  bestow  one  sheet  of  paper  upon  these  distracted 
"  times,  on  the  subject  of  Episcopacy,  showing  the  Apostol- 
"  ical  original  of  it,  and  the  grounds  of  it  from  Scripture  and 
"  the  immediately  succeeding  antiquity.  Every  line  of  it, 
"  coming  from  your  Grace's  hand,  would  be  super  rotas  SIMS, — 
"  as  Solomon's  expression  is,  very  apples  of  gold  with  pictures 
"  of  silver,  and  more  worth  than  volumes  to  us."  The  good 
Archbishop  was  persuaded  ;  and  about  the  21st  of  May  there 
had  appeared,  in  a  shop  in  Fleet  Street,  exactly  such  a  sheet 
of  matter  as  Hall  had  desired,  under  this  title, "  The  Judgment 
of  Doctor  Rainoldes  touching  tlie  originall  of  Episcopacy,  more 
largely  confirmed  out  of  Antiquity,  by  James,  Arclihishop  of 
Armagh"  l  But  this  was  not  all.  It  was  quite  true  that 
Usher  had  been  preparing  a  practical  scheme  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Church  of  England  on  the  basis  of  a  retained 
but  greatly  modified  Episcopacy.  The  tract  of  the  publica- 

»  "London:   printed  by  O.  M.  for  the    publication    from    the    Register 

TliMm:ia  Downe*,  and  are  to  be  sold  by  in  Stationers'  Hall,  where  it  is  entered 

\V,lli;nn  Lee  at  the  Turke's  Head  in  May  21.     See  also  Ellington's  Life  of 

Fleet  Street."    I  ascertain  the  date  of  Usher,  prefixed  to  his  "  Works." 


230  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

tion  of  which  he  had  complained  is  believed  to  have  been  an 
imperfect  copy  of  this  scheme,  which  had  been  purloined  from 
his  desk  ;  but  the  perfect  copy,  long  afterwards  published  from 
his  manuscript,  under  the  title  of  The  Reduction  of  Episcopacy 
unto  the  form  of  Synodical  Government  received  in  the  Ancient 
Church,  appears  to  have  been  in  private  circulation  in  May 
and  June  1641,  and  to  have  affected  the  discussions  then 
going  on  in  the  Commons.  In  this  project  of  Usher's,  in  the 
drawing  up  of  which  Dr.  Holdsworth  of  Cambridge,  and  per- 
haps some  others,  had  a  part,  the  management  of  the 
Church  was  to  be  by  graduated  courts  as  follows : — (1) 
A  Weekly  Parochial  Court  in  every  parish,  consisting  of  the 
Incumbent  and  Churchwardens.  (2)  Monthly  Courts  in  dis- 
tricts or  subdivisions  of  dioceses,  corresponding  to  the  Rural 
Deaneries, — every  such  court  to  consist  of  the  assembled 
Eectors  or  other  Incumbents  of  the  parishes  of  the  district, 
presided  over  by  a  Suffragan  for  the  district,  corresponding  to 
the  ancient  Chorepiscopus.  (3)  Diocesan  Synods,  once  or 
twice  a  year,  consisting  of  the  Suffragans  of  districts  and 
representatives  of  the  parish  clergy,  and  presided  over  by  the 
Bishop,  or  by  one  of  the  district  Suffragans  deputed  by  him. 
(4)  Provincial  Synods,  every  third  year,  consisting  of  the 
Bishops,  the  Suffragans,  and  elected  parish  ministers  from 
each  of  the  two  ecclesiastical  Provinces  of  England,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Archbishop  of  the  Province,  or  of  a 
Bishop  deputed  by  him ;  and  with  power  to  the  two  Provin- 
cial Synods,  if  meeting  at  the  same  time  as  Parliament,  to 
coalesce  into  a  General  Assembly  or  National  Council  for 
ultimate  regulation  of  Church  affairs.1 

All  these  incidents,  concurring  about  the  end  of  May  and 
the  beginning  of  June  1641,  produced  a  sense  of  distressing 
imbroglio,  and  almost  of  dead-lock.  It  would  have  been  of 
dead-lock  entirely  but  for  the  natural  rousing  of  the  pugnacity 
of  the  Commons  and  of  their  adherents  against  such  an 

1  This  Reduction  of  Episcopacy,   by  hope,  after  the  Restoration.     (See  Bax- 

Usher,  was  first  printed  from  the  ori-  ter's  Life,  ed.  1696,  pp.  238,   et  seq.). 

ginal  MS.  in  1658  by  Dr.  N.  Bernard,  See  also  Elrington's  Life  of  Usher  in 

and  will  be  found  in  Usher's  Works  by  Usher's  Works,  I.  208—9  ;  and  Whit- 

Elrington,  Vol.  XII.     It  was  brought  locke's  Memorials,  June  1641. 
forward  again  publicly,  and  with  some 


1640-41.]  A  ROOT-AND-BRANCH  DILI*  231 

accumulation  of  obstacles.  In  the  Commons  the  roused 
feeling  took  shape  in  two  forms  : — (1)  Condemnation  of  Cathe- 
dral Establishments.  Although  Racket's  defence  of  Cathedral 
Establishments  had  been  so  masterly  that  there  was  an 
impression,  says  Fuller,  that,  if  the  vote  had  been  taken  when 
it  was  made,  Cathedral  Establishments  would  have  had  a 
majority  of  sixty  in  their  favour,  yet  no  sooner  was  the 
Bishops  Exclusion  Bill  thrown  out  by  the  Lords  than  the 
Commons  forgot  the  speech.  On  the  15th  of  June,  they 
resolved  "  That  all  Deans,  Deans  and  Chapters,  Archdeacons, 
"  Prebendaries,  Chanters,  Canons,  and  Petty  Canons,  and  their 
"  officers,  shall  be  utterly  abolished  and  taken  away  out  of 
"  the  Church,"  and  "  That  all  the  lands  taken  by  this  Bill 
"  from  Deans  and  Chapters  shall  be  employed  to  the  advance- 
"  ment  of  learning  and  piety,  provision  being  had  and  made 
"  that  His  Majesty  be  not  a  loser  in  his  rents,  first-fruits, 
"  and  other  duties,  and  that  a  competent  maintenance  shall 
"  be  made  to  the  several  persons  concerned,  if  such  persons 
"  appear  not  peccant  and  delinquents  to  this  House." ] 
(2)  A  Root-and- Branch  Bill.  The  story  of  this  Bill  is  one  of 
the  most  curious  in  the  annals  of  the  Long  Parliament,  and  it 
brings  Cromwell  before  us  in  a  relation  to  the  proceedings  of 
the  Commons  at  this  time  which  has  escaped  notice.  On  the 
27th  of  May, — that  is,  before  the  rejection  of  the  Bishops 
Exclusion  Bill  by  the  Lords,  but  when  it  was  pretty  well 
known  that  they  would  reject  it, — Sir  Edward  Deering  was 
in  his  place  in  the  Commons  as  usual  He  had  by  this 
time  earned  his  name,  "the  Silver  Trumpet,"  by  his  fine 
voice  and  his  fondness  for  using  it ;  and  he  had  been  con- 
spicuous as  one  of  the  first  accusers  of  Laud,  and  generally 
as  one  of  the  most  eager  for  Church-Reform,  short  of  absolute 
Root -and -Branch.  As  he  was  in  his  place,  thinking  of 
nothing  in  particular,  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig  came  up  to  him 
with  a  draft  of  a  very  short  bill,  which  Haselrig  had 
that  moment  received  from  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  Mr.  Oliver 
Cromwell  "  He  told  me,"  says  Deering,  "  he  was  resolved 
that  it  should  go  in,  but  was  earnestly  urgent  that  I  would 

i  Riwh  worth,  IV.  285—290. 


232  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

present  it."  Deering  took  the  bill  from  Haselrig,  with  a 
natural  desire  to  see  what  it  was  before  complying  with  the 
request.  "  The  bill,"  he  says,  "  did  not  stay  in  my  hand  so 
"  long  as  to  make  a  hasty  perusal.  Whilst  I  was  overviewing 
"  it,  Sir  Edward  Ayscough  delivered  a  petition  out  of  Lin- 
"  colnshire,  which  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Strode  in  such  a 
"  sort  as  that  I  had  a  fair  invitement  to  issue  forth  the  Bill 

"  then  in  my  hand.      Thereupon  I  stood  up." He  stood 

up,  in  fact,  like  an  innocent,  and  became  the  mouthpiece 
of  Vane,  Cromwell,  and  Haselrig.  "  For  the  utter  abolishing 
"  and  taking  away  of  all  Archbishops,  Bishops,  their  Chan- 
"  cellors  and  Commissaries,  Deans,  Deans  and  Chapters, 
"  Archdeacons,  Prebendaries,  Chanters,  Canons,  and  all  other 
"  their  under- officers  "  :  such  was  the  title  of  the  Bill.  It 
was,  in  short,  a  Eoot-and -Branch  Bill,  with  which  the  extreme 
spirits  in  the  House,  hitherto  detained  in  the  background, 
had  resolved  now  to  make  an  experiment  on  their  own 
account.  Even  while  proposing  the  Bill,  Deering  seems  to 
have  trembled.  "  I  am  now  the  instrument,"  he  said,  "  to 
"  present  unto  you  a  very  short,  but  a  very  sharp,  bill,  such 
"  as  these  times  and  these  sad  necessities  have  brought  forth. 
"  It  speaks  a  free  language  and  makes  a  bold  request.  I  give 
"  it  you  as  I  take  physic,  not  for  delight,  but  for  a  cure." 
Nay,  though  he  now  presented  the  Bill,  and  would  vote  for 
it,  yet,  "  should  his  former  hopes  of  a  full  reformation  revive," 
he  would  "  divide  his  sense  upon  this  bill  and  yield  his  shoul- 
ders to  underprop  the  primitive,  lawful,  and  just  Episco- 
pacy." It  mattered  little  to  Vane,  Cromwell,  Haselrig,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Boot-and-Branch  men,  what  Deering  said 
about  the  Bill.  Their  purpose  was  sufficiently  answered  by 
its  introduction,  and  by  the  vote  which  followed.  That  same 
day  (May  27)  the  Bill  was  not  only  read  the  first  time,  but 
also  passed  the  second  reading  by  a  majority  of  1 3  9  Ayes  to 
108  Noes.  This  result,  which  may  have  surprised  the  Boot- 
and-Branch  men  themselves,  was  probably  intended  by  some 
of  the  majority  only  as  a  menace  to  the  Lords  should  they 
reject  the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill.1 

i  Commons'  Journals,  May  27,  1641 ;  Parl.  Hist.  II.  814,  815 ;  and  Deering's 
Speeches,  published  by  himself. 


1640-41.]  A  ROOT-AND-BRANCH  BILL.  233 

For  many  days  the  Root-and-Branch  Bill  was  the  subject 
of  discussions  in  Committee  and  references  to  the  House. 
The  Committee,  of  which  Mr.  Hyde  was  Chairman,  sat 
usually  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  four  in  the  afternoon, 
then  "  reporting  their  several  votes  of  that  day  to  the  House." 
According  to  Clarendon,  this  piecemeal  mode  of  procedure 
was  favourable  to  the  Root-and-Branch  party,  for  they 
always  sat  on  to  the  end  to  make  a  House,  whereas  those 
who  abhorred  the  Bill  went  off  at  dinner-time ;  which 
made  Falkland  say  that  "they  who  hated  bishops  hated 
them  worse  than  the  devil,  and  they  who  loved  them 
did  not  love  them  so  well  as  their  dinner."  Neverthe- 
less, it  was  in  the  power  of  Hyde,  as  Chairman  of  the 
Committee,  to  do  much  to  impede  the  Bill,  and  he  takes 
credit  for  having  used  this  power  to  the  uttermost.  The 
most  important  debates  were  on  the  llth  and  12th  of  June, 
and  again  on  the  21st.  On  the  1 1th  the  preamble  of  the  Bill 
was  agreed  upon  as  follows :  "  Whereas  the  government  of 
"  the  Church  of  England  by  Archbishops,  Bishops,  their 
"  Chancellors  and  Commissaries,  Deans,  Archdeacons,  and 
"  other  ecclesiastical  officers,  hath  been  found,  by  long  expe- 
"  rience,  to  be  a  great  impediment  to  the  perfect  reformation 
"  and  growth  of  religion,  and  very  prejudicial  to  the  civil 
"  state  and  government  of  this  kingdom."  Resuming  the 
debate  at  this  point  the  next  day,  the  Committee  and  the 
House  proceeded  to  the  great  question  whether  the  govern- 
ment thus  condemned  by  them  should  be  utterly  abolished. 
Sir  Henry  Vane  led  the  debate  that  day  on  the  affirmative 
side  in  a  speech  which  was  immediately  published ;  and  the 
poet  Waller  spoke  on  the  other  side.  The  abolition  clause 
was  also  voted ;  but  on  one  point  or  another  the  discussion 
was  continued  in  Committee  and  in  the  House  till  June  21, 
when  it  had  reached  a  degree  of  complexity  which  will  be 
best  indicated  by  an  account  of  the  speech  then  made  in 
Committee  by  the  original  mover  of  the  Bill,  Sir  Edward 
Deering.  "  You  have  here  a  Bill,"  he  began,  "  but  such  an 
"  one  as  is  like  to  be  short-lived,  and  not  to  grow  into  a 
"  perfect  Act,  unless  you  please  to  add  thereunto  some  very 


234  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  important,  very  significant,  provisoes, — such  wherein  we 
"  may  have,  or  whereby  we  may  be  assured  in  another  Bill 
"  to  have,  a  future  government  in  the  room  of  this  that  goes 
"  out."  When  Sir  Edward  had  got  so  far,  there  was  a  little 
interruption,  and  there  was  tabled  an  addition  to  the  Bill, 
longer  than  the  Bill  itself,  explaining  the  "  provisoes "  by 
which  the  Koot-and-Branch  party  intended  to  supplement 
the  Bill.  They  were  in  substance  that  "  a  proportional  num- 
ber of  clergy  and  laity "  should  be  appointed  as  Commis- 
sioners in  every  diocese,  to  exercise  all  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction until  a  future  government  should  be  resolved  on. 
With  such  an  "  interregnum  of  Commissioners  "  Sir  Edward, 
who  had  probably  repented  by  this  time  the  part  he  had 
been  made  to  play  in  the  original  introduction  of  the  Bill, 
professed  himself  quite  unsatisfied.  This  Bill,  he  said,  took 
away  the  existing  Episcopacy :  the  vote  of  the  Commons 
went  as  far  as  that,  and  he  went  with  it.  But  there  was 
another  Episcopacy,  which  he,  for  one,  would  like  to  see 
substituted  for  that  which  they  had  voted  to  abolish.  It  was 
the  primitive  genuine  Episcopacy,  which  had  existed  in  the 
Church  so  close  to  the  time  of  the  Apostles  that  it  might 
claim,  if  not  Apostolic  institution,  at  least  Apostolic  per- 
mission. Here  Deering  gave  a  sketch  of  the  "  primitive  Epis- 
copacy," with  quotations  from  Ignatius  and  other  Fathers. 
To  put  his  views  in  a  practical  form  with  reference  to 
England,  he  would  recommend,  he  said,  first,  a  redivision  of 
the  country  into  dioceses  smaller  than  the  existing  ones,  and, 
as  near  as  might  be,  coincident  with  the  shires  ;  secondly,  the 
appointment  by  Parliament  in  each  of  these  districts  or 
shires  of  a  permanent  body  of  some  twelve  or  more  grave 
divines,  who  should  act  as  an  ecclesiastical  council  "  in  the 
nature  of  an  old  constant  primitive  Presbytery " ;  and, 
thirdly,  the  appointment  over  this  Presbytery  of  one  to 
direct  and  guide  them,  who  might  be  called  "  Bishop,"  or  (if 
that  name  disturbed  people)  President,  Overseer,  Moderator, 
Superintendent,  Euling  Presbyter,  or  anything  else.  Deering 
was  eager  that  some  such  new  constitution  should  pass  along 
with  the  Bill  abolishing  the  existing  Episcopacy,  so  that  there 


1640-41.]  WILLIAMS'S  DRAFT  BILL  235 

might  be  110  period  of  anarchy.  "  In  strict  and  plain  English," 
he  said  finally,  "  I  am  for  abolishing  of  our  present  Episco- 
"  pacy,  both  dioceses  and  diocesans,  as  now  they  are.  But  I 
"  am  withal,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  restoration  of  the  pure 
"  primitive  Episcopal  Presidency.  .  .  .  Down,  then,  with  our 
"  Prelatical  Hierarchy,  or  Hierarchical  Prelacy,  such  as  now 
"  we  have  !  .  .  .  This  do,  but  ed  lege,  on  this  condition,  that 
"  with  the  same  hand,  in  the  same  Bill,  we  do  gently  raise 
"  again,  even  from  under  the  ruins  of  that  Babel,  such  an 
"  Episcopacy,  such  a  Presidency,  as  is  venerable  in  its  an- 
"  tiquity  and  purity,  and  most  behoveful  for  the  peace  of 
"  our  Christendom."  It  is  to  be  understood  that  at  this 
point  Deering  and  the  real  Root-and-Branch  men  parted 
company.1 

Whatever  interest  there  might  be  in  having  Bishop 
Williams's  long-promised  draft  of  a  new  Church-organization 
in  hand,  in  order  to  compare  it  with  the  Root-and-Branch 
Bill  of  the  Commons,  or  with  Usher's  "  Reduction  of  Episco- 
pacy," was  very  soon  gratified.  Williams's  scheme  for 
"  regulating  of  Bishops  and  their  Jurisdiction  "  was  submitted 
to  the  Lords  on  the  1st  of  July.  It  certainly  proposed  great 
limitations  of  the  Episcopal  power.  Bishops  were  to  remain 
in  Parliament  ;  but  no  Bishop  (save  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
as  Dean  of  Westminster,  i.e.  Williams  himself)  was  to  be 
on  the  Commission  of  the  Peace.  Every  Bishop,  in  addition 
to  his  Dean  and  Chapter,  was  to  have  twelve  assessors  in  his 
diocese  for  jurisdiction  and  ordination,  four  to  be  appointed 
by  the  King,  four  by  the  Lords,  and  four  by  the  Commons. 
In  cases  of  vacant  bishoprics,  these  assessors,  together  with 
the  Dean  and  Chapter,  were  to  nominate  three  clergymen 
for  the  see,  from  whom  the  Crown  was  to  select  one.  All 
ecclesiastical  canons  and  constitutions  were  to  be  drawn  up 
by  a  committee  of  sixteen  learned  persons,  of  whom  the  King 
was  to  appoint  six,  the  Lords  five,  and  the  Commons  five. 
These  and  some  other  provisions  formed  Williams's  long- 
expected  Draft.  Whatever  might  have  been  thought  of  it 


s1  .F.-urnala  of  datee  cited  ;       Ruahworth,  IV.  293—6  ;  Clarendon,  95, 
Purl.  Hist.  II.  822  —  8,  and  838  —  40;       96;  and  Dee  ring'u  Speech. 


236  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

earlier,  it  was  now  too  late.  "The  Bill,"  says  Fuller,  "  was  read 
but  once  in  the  Lords,  and  no  great  matter  made  thereof."  l 
And  no  wonder,  if  we  consider  the  state  of  confusion,  of 
mutual  pressure  and  conflict,  at  which,  by  the  time  the  Bill 
had  been  brought  forward  (July  1641),  parties  had  arrived. 
As  clearly  as  I  can  represent  this  state,  there  were  now  four 
distinguishable  parties,  instead  of  the  three  described  at  the 
outset.  (1)  There  was  the  High  Church  Party,  headed  by 
the  King,  and  represented  by  Hall,  most  of  the  other  Bishops, 
the  Oxford  Divines,  &c.,  anxious  for  conserving  as  much  of 
the  existing  Episcopacy  and  its  appurtenances  as  possible.  (2) 
There  was  the  Higher  Middle  Party,  represented  by  Williams, 
anxious  for  the  retention  of  Bishops  in  Parliament,  the 
preservation  of  Cathedral  Establishments,  and  the  like,  but 
ready  for  a  reorganization  of  the  Episcopal  government  of  the 
Church  after  Williams's  scheme,  or  something  tantamount. 
(3)  There  was  the  Lower  Middle  Party,  represented  by  the 
majority  of  Church- Kef or mers  in  the  Commons,  including 
even  Falkland  and  Selden,  resolute  for  the  ejection  of  Bishops 
from  Parliament  and  all  civil  offices,  and  also  for  the  reduction 
of  Cathedral  Establishments,  but  satisfied  with  the  retention 
of  Episcopacy  if  it  were  restored  to  some  imaginary  resem- 
blance to  primitive  Episcopacy,  like  that  upon  which  Usher 
had  set  his  heart.  (4)  As  before,  there  was  the  real  Koot- 
and-Branch  Party,  represented  by  the  Vanes,  Cromwells,  and 
Haselrigs  in  the  Commons,  and  by  Saye  and  Sele,  Brooke, 
and  others  in  the  Lords,  desiring  the  entire  abolition  of. 
Archbishops,  Bishops,  Deans,  Deans  and  Chapters,  Arch- 
deacons, Prebendaries,  Canons,  and  all  ecclesiastical  ranks 
above  that  of  the  parish-clergy,  and,  so  far  as  they  were 
agreed  as  to  the  system  that  should  be  substituted  for  such 
a  hierarchy,  seeing  nothing  so  likely  as  the  Scottish  Presby- 
terian system,  or  some  modification  thereof. 

i  Lords'  Journals,  July  1,  1641 ;  Fuller's  Church  Hist.  (edit.  1842),  III.  426. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THREE   ANTI-EPISCOPAL    PAMPHLETS   OF   MILTON. 

IT  was  into  the  midst  of  the  confusion  of  Parliamentary 
parties  on  the  Church-question  that  there  was  thrown  a 
pamphlet,  of  90  small  quarto  pages,  bearing  this  title :  "  Of 
Reformation  touching  Church  Discipline  in  England  and  the 
Causes  that  hitherto  have  hindered  it :  Two  Books,  ivritten  to 
a  Friend :  printed  for  Thomas  Undcrhill,  1641."  Many  were 
the  pamphlets  then  coming  out,  on  all  sides  of  the  con- 
troversy, by  known  and  unknown  authors ;  among  which,  as 
not  unlikely  to  attract  a  good  share  of  attention,  we  may  note 
a  new  one,  of  thorough  Root -and -Branch  opinions,  by  the 
indefatigable  Prynne.1  But  the  pamphlet  of  which  we  have 
given  the  title  would  have  been  distinguished  from  all  the 
rest  by  any  one  that  had  happened  to  look  into  it.  There 
was  no  author's  name  to  it,  but  we  know  it  now  as  Milton's. 

We  have  seen  what  were  the  effects  upon  Milton's  mind, 
in  his  house  in  Aldersgate  Street,  of  the  sudden  prospect  of  a 
new  era  of  liberty,  and  especially  of  ecclesiastical  liberty,  for 
England.  He  had  been  watching,  with  unusual  interest,  the 
successive  steps  of  the  Church-question  in  Parliament,  from 
the  presentation  in  December  1640  of  that  Root-and-Branch 
petition  of  the  Londoners  which  he  himself  may  have  signed, 
on  to  that  crisis  of  May — July  1641  at  which  we  have  now 
arrived.  He  had  been  watching  those  steps  in  the  spirit  of  a 


»  "The   Antipathy  of   the   English       Registered  at 
Lordly  Prelacy  both  to  Royal  Monarchy       1641. 
and  Civil  Unity:  By  Mr.  Wm.  I'r 


Stationers'  Hall,  July  5, 


238  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

man  who  was  himself  of  Koot-and-Branch  opinions  to  the  very 
uttermost  bounds  known.  In  the  same  spirit  he  had  been 
watching  the  literature  of  the  question.  He  had  been  reading, 
with  all  the  attention  of  an  adverse  critic,  Hall's  pamphlets, 
Usher's  pamphlets  and  those  that  bore  Usher's  name,  the 
published  speeches  of  Digby  and  Falkland,  and  Racket's 
famous  defence  of  Cathedral  Establishments.  Nor,  from  his 
antecedents,  was  he  one  whose  sympathies  with  the  Koot- 
and-Branch  party  were  likely  to  remain  unknown.  In  any 
meeting  of  the  Boot-and- Branch  leaders  in  London  where 
they  might  chance  to  be  reckoning  up  their  available 
adherents,  the  name  of  Mr.  John  Milton  was  pretty  sure  to 
be  mentioned.  The  matter  is  not  left  to  conjecture.  The 
chief  of  the  Smectymnuans,  as  we  have  seen,  was  Thomas 
Young,  Vicar  of  Stowmarket  in  Suffolk,  who,  some  twenty 
years  before,  had  been  Milton's  first  domestic  preceptor.  It 
must  have  been  by  some  presentiment  that,  in  relating  the 
story  of  Milton's  boyhood  and  youth,  we  were  attracted  so 
particularly  by  the  figure  of  this  long -forgotten  Scottish 
immigrant  into  England.  "We  dug  him,  it  may  be  remem- 
bered, out  of  his  birth-place  of  Luncarty  in  Perthshire ;  we 
followed  him  to  the  University  of  St.  Andrews ;  we  traced 
him  thence  to  London,  to  be  employed  by  Puritan  ministers 
as  their  occasional  assistant,  and  by  the  scrivener  of  Bread 
Street  as  a  tutor  for  his  son  ;  and  we  quoted,  finally,  Milton's 
expressions  of  strong  regard  for  him  in  poems  and  letters 
after  he  and  Young  had  been  separated.  Only  vaguely  did  we 
know  then  that  pupil  and  tutor  were  again  to  come  together, 
in  the  pupil's  manhood,  so  near  to  the  centre  of  the  politics 
of  England.  But  such  is  the  fact.  Not  only  is  there  proof 
that  Young  was  the  chief  of  the  Smectymnuans ;  there  is 
also  something  like  proof,  under  Milton's  own  hand,  presently 
to  be  cited,  that  Milton  himself  had  a  hand  in  the  Smec- 
tymnuus  Pamphlet.  He  contributed,  as  I  calculate,  rough 
notes  or  material  for  about  twenty  of  its  pages. 

Co-operation,  however,  except  incidentally,  in  pamphlets 
with  others  was  not  much  in  Milton's  way.  Accordingly, 
when  the  Smectymnuus  pamphlet  appeared  (March  1640-1) 


1641.]  MILTON'S  FIRST  PAMPHLET.  239 

lie  was  engaged  on  a  pamphlet  of  his  own,  Smectymnuan  in 
its  purport,  but  Miltonic  to  the  brim  in  its  matter  and  style. 
He  was  not  a  fast  writer,  and  there  was  every  reason  why 
into  this,  his  first,  pamphlet  he  should  throw  as  much  of 
himself  as  he  could.  Moreover,  he  had  so  chosen  his  subject 
that,  while  the  pamphlet  should  be  a  trumpet-blast  on  the 
current  questions,  it  should  yet  have  the  form  of  an  original 
historical  essay.  His  thesis  was  that  the  European  Reforma-"^ 
tion  begun  by  Luther  had  been  arrested  in  England  at  a  point  V 
far  less  advanced  than  that  which  it  had  reached  in  other  C 
countries,  and  that,  in  consequence,  England  had  ever  since  ] 
been  suffering  and  struggling,  and  incapacitated,  as  by  a  load  ' 
of  nightmare  only  half  thrown  off,  for  the  full  and  free  exercise 
of  her  splendid  spirit.  In  treating  this  thesis  it  was  his 
purpose  to  point  out  the  causes  of  such  a  national  stopping- 
short  in  reformation,  as  they  had  operated  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  had  continued  to  operate  ever  since.  For 
the  readings  and  generalizings  necessary  for  such  an  essay 
some  little  time  was  required.  Accordingly,  as  exactly  as  I 
can  calculate,  it  was  not  till  very  late  in  May,  or,  more  prob- 
ably, early  in  June,  that  the  pamphlet  appeared.1  When  it 
did  appear,  its  title,  as  quoted  above,  announced  its  nature. 
Who  the  "  Friend  "  is  to  whom  the  two  Books  composing  the 
pamphlet  were  addressed,  remains  unknown.  The  epistolary 
form  may  have  been  but  an  author's  device ;  and  the  Friend, 
whoever  he  was,  need  not  have  seen  the  remarks  addressed  to 
him  till  they  were  in  print. 

The  bookseller,  Thomas  Underbill,  who  published  Milton's 
pamphlet,  was  the  publisher  also  of  Vane's  contemporary 
Root-and-Branch  Speech.  His  shop  was  in  Wood  Street, 
Cheapside,  at  the  sign  of  the  Bible.  Suppose  that,  in  June 

1  Thomoson,  the  contemporary  col-  Milton's  earliest  pamphlets  not  having 

lector  of  the  King's  Pamphlets  in  the  t>een  registered  at  all  by  the  publishers, 

liritish  Museum,  who  has  left  the  exact  But   Milton  distinctly  speaks  of  this 

dates  of  so  many  of  the  pamphlets  in-  pamphlet  as  h\njirgt  (l>ef.  Sec.  pro  Pojp. 

scribed  upon  them,  has  not  dated  the  .  I  /<///. ) ;  which,  as  we  shall  see,  implies 

copies  of  Milton's  earliest  pamphlets.  that  it  cannot  have  appeared  later  than 

The  Stationers'  Hall  Registers,  an  exa-  June  ;  and,  as  there  is  allusion  in  the 

mination  of  which  has  happily  furnished  pamphlet  itself  to  the  petitions  of  the 

mo  with  the  dates  of  very  many  pom-  universities  in  favour  of  Deans  and 

l>lili-t«  and  other  publications  cited  in  Chapters,  this  determines  that  the  pam- 

this  History,  are  of  no  help  here, —  phlot  appeared  after  May  lL'. 


240  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

1641,  you  had  purchased  at  his  shop  a  copy  of  Milton's 
Pamphlet,  and,  having  taken  it  home  with  you,  had  begun  to 
read  it.  The  very  opening,  if  you  had  been  accustomed  to  the 
pamphlets  of  the  day,  would  have  astonished  you.  Here 
it  is : — 

"  SIB, 

Amidst  those  deep  and  retired  thoughts  which  with  every 
man  Christianly  instructed  ought  to  be  most  frequent — of  God,  and 
of  his  miraculous  ways  and  works  amongst  men,  and  of  our  religion 
and  worship  to  be  performed  to  him — after  the  story  of  our  Saviour 
Christ,  suffering  to  the  lowest  bent  of  weakness  in  the  flesh,  and 
presently  triumphing  to  the  highest  pitch  of  glory  in  the  spirit, 
which  drew  up  his  body  also  till  we  in  both  be  united  to  him  in 
the  revelation  of  his  Kingdom,  I  do  not  know  of  anything  more 
worthy  to  take  up  the  whole  passion  of  pity  on  the  one  side,  and 
joy  on  the  other,  than  to  consider,  first,  the  foul  and  sudden  cor- 
ruption, and  then,  after  many  a  tedious  age,  the  long-deferred,  but 
much  more  wonderful  and  nappy,  Reformation  of  the  Church  in 
these  latter  days.  Sad  it  is  to  think  how  that  doctrine  of  the 
Gospel,  planted  by  teachers  divinely  inspired,  and  by  them  win- 
nowed and  sifted  from  the  chaff  of  overdated  ceremonies,  and 
refined  to  such  a  spiritual  height  and  temper  of  purity  and  know- 
ledge of  the  Creator  that  the  body,  with  all  the  circumstances  of 
time  and  place,  were  purified  by  the  affections  of  the  regenerate 
soul,  and  nothing  left  impure  but  sin — faith  needing  not  the  weak 
and  fallible  offices  of  the  senses  to  be  either  the  ushers  or  inter- 
preters of  heavenly  mysteries,  save  where  our  Lord  himself  in  his 
Sacraments  ordained — that  such  a  doctrine  should,  through  the 
grossness  and  blindness  of  her  professors,  and  the  fraud  of  deceiv- 
able  traditions,  drag  so  downwards  as  to  backslide  one  way  into 
the  Jewish  beggary  of  old  cast  rudiments,  and  stumble  forward 
another  way  into  the  new -vomited  Paganism  of  sensual  idolatry, 
attributing  purity  or  impurity  to  things  indifferent.  That  they 
might  bring  the  inward  acts  of  the  spirit  to  the  outward  and  custom- 
ary eye-service  of  the  body,  as  if  they  would  make  God  earthly 
and  fleshly  because  they  could  not  make  themselves  heavenly  and 
spiritual,  they  began  to  draw  down  all  the  divine  intercourse 
betwixt  God  and  the  soul,  yea  the  very  shape  of  God  himself,  into 
an  exterior  and  bodily  form.  Urgently  pretending  a  necessity  and 
obligement  of  joining  the  body  in  a  formal  reverence  and  worship 
circumscribed,  they  hallowed  it,  they  fumed  it,  they  sprinkled  it, 


1641.]  MILTON'S  FIRST  PAMPHI.M.  241 

they  decked  it, — not  in  robes  of  pure  innocency,  but  of  pure  linen, 
with  other  deformed  and  fantastic  dresses  in  palls  and  mitres,  gold 
and  gewgaws,  fetched  from  Aaron's  old  wardrobe,  or  the  Flamen's 
vestry.  Then  was  the  priest  set  to  con  his  motions  and  his  postures, 
his  liturgies  and  his  lurries,  till  the  soul,  by  the  means  of  over- 
bodying  herself,  given  up  to  fleshly  delights,  bated  her  wing  apace 
downward,  and,  finding  the  ease  she  had  from  her  visible  and 
sensuous  colleague,  the  body,  in  performance  of  religious  duties, 
her  pinions  now  broken  and  flagging,  shifted  off  from  herself  the 
labour  of  high-soaring  any  more,  forgot  her  heavenly  flight,  and 
left  the  dull  and  droiling  carcase  to  plod  on  in  the  old  road  and 
drudging  trade  of  outward  conformity." 

Having  read  so  far  (and  long  sentences  were  not  in  those 
days  the  horror  to  readers  that  they  have  since  become),  you 
would  not  perhaps  have  made  up  your  mind  as  to  the  merits 
of  the  author  all  in  all,  but  you  would  have  been  likely  to  go 
on.  How  was  it,  the  author  asked,  that,  although  England, 
blessed  with  a  Wycliffe,  had  been  the  first  country  in  Europe 
to  awake  out  of  the  long  night  of  Romish  Medievalism,  and 
although,  after  a  relapse,  she  had  again  shared  the  general 
awakening  of  Luther's  movement,  yet  she  had  lagged  behind 
all  other  Protestant  Churches  in  the  race  ?  He  would  pass 
over  "  God's  part "  in  the  matter,  or  the  mysterious  purposes 
for  which  Providence  might  have  arranged  it  so ;  and  he  would 
pass  over  also  what  amount  of  influence  might  have  been  owing 
to  the  foreign  agency  of  Home,  still  keeping  tenacious  hold 
of  the  English  nation  and  fingering  continually  in  her  affairs. 
Passing  over  these,  he  will  consider,  he  says,  those  causes  of 
the  phenomenon  of  an  arrested  Reformation  which  belonged 
to  the  genius  and  history  of  the  English  among  themselves. 
Through  several  pages,  accordingly,  there  is  a  rapid  view  of 
the  course  of  the  English  Church  during  the  reigns  of  Henry 
VIII.,  Edward  VI.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  as  determined  by  the 
personal  characters  of  those  sovereigns  and  of  the  ecclesiastics 
whom  they  chiefly  trusted.  One  is  struck  here  by  the  perfect 
freedom,  amounting  to  irreverence,  with  which  the  writer 
speaks  of  Cranmer,  Ridley,  Latimer,  and  others,  remembered 
as  the  worthies  and  martyrs  of  their  time;  and  there  is  a  pass- 
age in  which  the  writer  refers  to  this,  avows  his  principle 

VOL.  II  i: 


242  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

in  such  matters,  and  announces  that,  if  people  expect  from 
him  anything  of  that  fulsome  hero-worship  which  will  not 
see  faults  in  men  of  the  past  because  they  have  been  reputedly 
or  even  really  good  and  great,  they  will  find  themselves 
mistaken.  Having  concluded  his  summary  of  English 
History  from  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  to  the  end  of  that  of 
Elizabeth,  he  next  proceeds  to  the  more  extensive  portion  of 
his  subject :  to  wit,  the  investigation  of  the  causes  which,  in 
the  generation  then  living,  or  from  the  accession  of  James, 
had  hindered  the  progress  of  Keformation.  These  causes, 
he  says,  resolved  themselves  chiefly  into  the  existence  and 
influence  in  the  community  of  three  classes  of  persons.  He 
will  call  them,  respectively,  the  Antiquitarians  (so  named  by 
him  to  distinguish  them  from  the  "  Antiquaries,"  whose 
labours  he  thought  useful  and  laudable),  the  Libertines,  and 
the  Politicians. 

First  of  the  Antiquitarians.  They  are  those  who,  either  from 
erroneous  scholarship,  or  an  erroneous  and  pedantic  estimate 
of  the  function  of  Scholarship,  and  of  the  right  of  the  past 
to  control  the  present,  defended  Prelacy  in  England  on  the 
ground  of  antiquity  and  sacredness.  Here  Milton  discusses 
both  the  question  of  fact  and  the  question  of  reason.  He 
maintains,  in  the  first  place,  by  means  of  quotations  from 
Ignatius,  Cyprian,  and  other  Fathers  and  later  authorities,  that 
whatever  Episcopacy  did  exist  in  the  primitive  Church  was 
an  entirely  different  thing  from  the  modern  Episcopacy.  He 
maintains  that  the  primitive  Bishops  were  popularly  elected, 
had  no  regular  diocesan  jurisdictions,  and  were  not  elevated 
remarkably  above  the  body  of  the  Presbyters.  But  what 
though  the  primitive  Episcopacy  had  been  the  true  prototype 
of  modern  Prelacy  ?  Was  that  primitive  age  itself  so  mightily 
wise  that  all  the  subsequent  world  was  to  be  bound  hand  and 
foot  by  its  whims  or  its  decisions  ?  On  the  contrary,  what  so 
corrupt  as  the  Primitive  Church  ?  Were  not  its  own  greatest 
men  conscious  of  this  ?  Had  it  not  been  their  universal 
habit  to  disclaim  while  living  the  very  infallibility  claimed  now 
for  their  dead  bones  ?  Had  they  not  confessed  themselves 
erring  men,  and  appealed  always  to  Scripture  and  reason 


1641.]  MILTON'S  FIRST  PAMPHLET.  243 

as  the  sole  ultimate  authority  ?  Here  again  then  are  cita- 
tions of  Ignatius,  Eusebius,  Hegesippus,  Iremeus,  Tertullian, 
.Justin  Martyr,  Origen,  Sulpitius,  Athanasius,  Cyprian,  Lac- 
tan  tius,  St.  Augustine,  &c.  A  great  point  in  the  argument  is 
that  the  so-called  establishment  and  endowment  of  Chris- 
tianity by  the  Emperor  Constantine,  instead  of  being  the 
magnificent  thing  that  the  Antiquitarians  made  of  it,  had 
been  in  reality  the  transaction  of  a  Christianity  already 
rotten.  On  the  general  character  of  the  great  Christian 
Emperor,  and  on  this  particular  act  of  his,  intertwining 
Church  and  State,  Milton  is  very  sarcastic;  and  he  helps 
himself  to  passages  from  Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Ariosto,  which 
he  translates  for  the  purpose.  Thus  from  Dante's  Inferno : — 

Ah  !  Constantine,  of  how  much  ill  was  cause 
Not  thy  conversion,  but  those  rich  domains 
That  the  first  wealthy  Pope  received  of  thee  ! 

Having  thus  fought  the  battle  with  the  Antiquitarians, 
Milton  has  a  word,  and  but  a  word,  on  the  second  class  of 
obstructives,  the  Libertines.  They  are  those  who,  detesting 
in  their  hearts  Church -discipline  of  any  sort,  think  that 
the  next  best  thing  to  no-Church  is  the  Church  that  prac- 
tically will  give  least  trouble.  On  this  account  they  prefer 
Prelacy,  which  puts  but  a  Bishop  in  every  diocese,  to  Pres- 
bytery, which  might  produce  you  a  Pope  in  every  parish. 
With  these  men,  for  whom  Turkish  or  Jewish  discipline 
would  be  as  good  as  Christian,  what  need  of  arguing  ?  Their 
ideal  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  was  Chaucer's  Friar : 

Full  swetely  heard  he  confessioun, 
And  pleasant  was  his  absolutioun  : 
ll<>  was  an  easie  man  to  give  penance. 

The  Antiquitarians  and  the  Libertines  having  been  thus 
dealt  with  in  the  first  Book,  the  second  Itook  is  reserved 
rn i  i rely  for  the  Politicians.  Opening  with  a  passage  of  sin- 
gular grandeur  on  the  work  and  aims  of  the  true  statesman, 
as  conceived  by  the  great  souls  of  antiquity,  in  contrast  with 
that  low  and  peddling  State-polity  which  seemed  alone  to 
be  within  the  conception  of  modern  theorists,  Milton 


244  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

argues  that  it  was  only  on  the  maxims  and  principles  of 
this  lower  and  degraded  kind  of  State-polity  that  Episcopacy 
was  anywhere  defended.  Not  from  such  politics  as  were  to 
be  found  in  the  Bible,  or  in  Plato,  or  Aristotle,  or  Tacitus, 
could  modern  politicians  fetch  reasons  for  Episcopacy,  but 
only  from  "  the  schools  of  Loyola,  with  his  Jesuits,  or  their 
Malvezzi,  that  can  cut  Tacitus  into  slivers  and  steaks."1 
But,  let  them  derive  their  arguments  whence  they  would, 
of  what  worth  were  they  ?  For  about  twenty  pages  this 
inquiry  is  prosecuted.  Eefusing  to  allow  that  there  is  any 
need  whatever  of  conformity  in  a  spiritual  body  like  the 
Church  to  any  "  temporal  regiment  of  weal-publick,"  whether 
popular,  aristocratic,  or  monarchical,  Milton  yet  applies 
himself  to  the  great  contemporary  argument  of  the  superior 
consistency  of  Episcopacy  in  the  Church  with  a  Monarchy 
such  as  that  of  England.  Surveying  the  history  of  the 
Eoman  Empire  after  Constantine,  and  then  that  of  the 
Frankish  kingdoms  and  of  Mediaeval  Europe,  he  asserts  that 
Episcopacy  had  been  uniformly  hostile  to  Monarchy,  and 
that  the  Papacy  had  built  itself  out  of  the  spoils  wrung  by 
bishops  from  potentates  of  too  easy  temper.  Then,  restricting 
his  view  to  England,  he  repeats  more  elaborately  and  elo- 
quently the  story,  which  had  been  told  in  the  Postscript  to 
the  pamphlet  of  Smectymnuus,  of  the  continuous  struggle  of 
ambitious  Prelates  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman 
Kings,  and  down  even  to  the  Tudors.  There  is  a  coincidence 
between  that  postscript  to  Smectymnuus  (which  had  been 
furnished  in  the  rough,  as  I  believe,  to  the  Smectymnuans 
by  Milton  himself)  and  the  enumeration  to  which  Milton 
proceeds  of  the  more  recent  crimes  and  cruelties  chargeable 
against  even  the  Eeformed  bishops  since  the  days  of  Henry 
and  Elizabeth.  "  What  the  practices  of  the  Prelates  have 
"  been  ever  since,  from  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
"  to  this  present  day,"  the  Smectymnuans  had  said  in  their 
Postscript,  "would  fill  a  volume,  like  Ezekiel's  roll,  with 
"  lamentation,  mourning  and  woe,  to  record.  For  it  hath 

1  The  Marquis  Virgilio  Malvezzi  (1599 — 1654)  was  an  Italian  statesman,  and 
commentator  on  Tacitus, 


1641.]  MILTON'S  FIRST  PAMPHLET.  245 

"  been  their  great  design  to  hinder  all  further  reformation ; 
"  to  bring  in  doctrines  of  Popery,  Arminianisin,  and  Liber- 
"  tinism;  to  maintain,  propagate,  and  much  increase  the 
"  burden  of  human  ceremonies ;  to  keep  out  and  beat 
"  down  the  preaching  of  the  Word ;  to  oppose  and  persecute 
"  the  most  real  professors ;  to  turn  all  religion  into  a  pomp- 
"  ous  outside,  and  to  tread  down  the  power  of  godliness ; 
"  insomuch  that  it  is  come  to  be  an  ordinary  proverb  that 
"  when  anything  is  spoilt  we  used  to  say  '  The  Bishop's  foot 
"  hath  been  in  it.' "  To  this  indictment  Milton  returns  in 
his  own  treatise.  All  that  Leighton  or  Prynne,  or  even 
Penry  and  the  early  Marprelatists,  had  written  against 
Bishops  and  Episcopacy  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the 
tremendous  denunciations  of  Milton.  He  rolls  and  thunders 
charge  after  charge ;  he  tasks  all  his  genius  for  epithets  and 
expressions  of  scorn ;  he  says  things  of  Bishops,  Arch- 
bishops, the  English  Liturgy,  and  some  of  the  dearest  forms 
of  the  English  Church,  the  like  of  which  could  hardly  be 
uttered  now  in  any  assembly  of  Englishmen  without  hissing 
and  execration.  He  works  himself  at  last  into  a  paroxysm 
of  mingled  rage  and  sorrow  at  the  picture  which  he  has 
conjured  up  of  the  woful  condition  into  which  Episcopacy 
had  reduced  not  only  England  but  the  whole  of  the  British 
Islands.  After  a  passing  glance  at  one  or  two  recent 
Episcopal  pamphlets,  and  at  the  petitions  of  the  Universities 
for  Deans  and  Chapters,  he  bursts  all  the  bounds  of  ordinary 
literary  form,  and  takes  refuge  in  an  ode  of  prayer.  As  we 
quoted  the  beginning  of  the  pamphlet,  so  we  will  quote  this, 
its  close.  It  is  a  passage  of  prose-poetry  to  which  I  have 
found  nothing  comparable  yet  in  the  whole  range  of  English 
literature : — 

"  O  Sir,  I  do  now  feel  myself  enrapt  on  the  sudden  into  those 
mazes  and  labyrinths  of  dreadful  and  hideous  thoughts  that  which 
way  to  get  out  or  which  way  to  end  I  know  not,  unless  I  turn 
mine  eyes,  and,  with  your  help,  lift  up  my  hands  to  that  eternal 
and  propitious  Throne  where  nothing  is  readier  than  grace  and 
refuge  to  tip  di Mix-sues  of  mortal  suppliants;  and  it  were  a  shame 
to  leave  these  serious  thoughts  less  piously  than  the  heathen  were 


246  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

wont  to  conclude  their  graver  discourses. —  —Thou,  therefore, 
that  sitst  in  light  and  glory  unapproachable,  Parent  of  Angels  and 
Men  !  next  thee  I  implore,  Omnipotent  King,  Redeemer  of  that 
lost  remnant  whose  nature  thou  didst  assume,  Ineffable  and  Ever- 
lasting Love !  and  Thou,  the  third  substance  of  Divine  Infinitude, 
Illumining  Spirit,  the  joy  and  solace  of  created  things !  one  Tri- 
personal  GODHEAD  !  look  upon  this  thy  poor  and  almost  spent  and 
expiring  Church ;  leave  her  not  thus  a  prey  to  these  importunate 
wolves,  that  wait  and  think  long  till  they  devour  thy  tender  flock, — 
these  wild  boars  that  have  broke  into  thy  vineyard,  and  left  the 
print  of  their  polluting  hoofs  on  the  souls  of  thy  servants.  O  let 
them  not  bring  about  their  damned  designs  that  stand  now  at  the 
entrance  of  the  bottomless  pit,  expecting  the  watch-ward  to  open 
and  let  out  those  dreadful  locusts  and  scorpions,  to  reinvolve  us  in 
that  pitchy  cloud  of  infernal  darkness,  where  we  shall  never  more 
see  the  sun  of  thy  Truth  again,  never  hope  for  the  cheerful  dawn, 
never  more  hear  the  bird  of  morning  sing.  Be  moved  with  pity  at 
the  afflicted  state  of  this  our  shaken  monarchy,  that  now  lies  labour- 
ing under  her  throes,  and  struggling  against  the  grudges  of  more 
dreaded  calamities.  O  Thou,  that  after  the  impetuous  rage  of  five 
bloody  inundations,  and  the  succeeding  sword  of  intestine  war 
soaking  the  land  in  her  own  gore,  didst  pity  the  sad  and  ceaseless 
revolution  of  our  swift  and  thick-coming  sorrows, — when  we  were 
quite  breathless,  of  thy  free  grace  didst  motion  peace  and  terms  of 
covenant  with  us,  and,  having  first  wellnigh  freed  us  from  Anti- 
christian  thraldom,  didst  build  up  this  Britannic  Empire  to  a 
glorious  and  enviable  heighth  with  all  her  daughter-islands  about 
her, — stay  us  in  this  felicity ;  let  not  the  obstinacy  of  our  half- 
obedience  and  will- worship  bring  forth  that  viper  of  sedition  that 
for  these  four-score  years  hath  been  breeding  to  eat  through  the 
entrails  of  our  peace ;  but  let  her  cast  her  abortive  spawn  without 
the  danger  of  this  travailing  and  throbbing  Kingdom,  that  we  may 
still  remember  in  our  solemn  thanksgivings  how  for  us  the  northern 
ocean,  even  to  the  frozen  Thule,  was  scattered  with  the  proud  ship- 
wracks  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  and  the  very  maw  of  Hell  ran- 
sacked, and  made  to  give  up  her  concealed  destruction,  ere  she  could 
vent  it  in  that  terrible  and  damned  blast.  O  how  much  more 
glorious  will  those  former  deliverances  appear  when  we  shall  know 
them  not  only  to  have  saved  us  from  greatest  miseries  past,  but  to 
have  reserved  us  for  greatest  happiness  to  come !  Hitherto  thou 
hast  but  freed  us,  and  that  not  fully,  from  the  unjust  and  tyrannous 
claim  of  thy  foes  ;  now  unite  us  entirely,  and  appropriate  us  to  thy- 


1641.]  MILTON'S  FIRST  PAMPHLET.  247 

self ;  tie  us  everlastingly  in  willing  homage  to  the  prerogative  of 
thy  Eternal  Throne.  And  now  we  know,  O  Thou  our  most  certain 
hope  and  defence,  that  thine  enemies  have  been  consulting  all  the 
sorceries  of  the  Great  Whore,  and  have  joined  their  plots  with  that 
sad  Intelligencing  Tyrant  that  mischiefs  the  world  with  his  mines  of 
Ophir,  and  lies  thirsting  to  revenge  his  naval  ruins  that  have 
larded  our  seas.  But  let  them  all  take  counsel  together,  and  let 
it  come  to  nought ;  let  them  decree,  and  do  Thou  cancel  it ;  let 
them  embattle  themselves  and  be  broken,  let  them  embattle 
and  be  broken,  for  Thou  art  with  us !  Then,  amidst  the  hymns 
and  halleluiahs  of  Saints,  some  one  may  perhaps  be  heard 
offering  at  high  strains  in  new  and  lofty  measures,  to  sing  and 
celebrate  thy  divine  mercies  and  marvellous  judgments  in  this 
land  throughout  all  ages ;  whereby  this  great  and  warlike  nation, 
instructed  and  inured  to  the  fervent  and  continual  practice 
of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  casting  far  from  her  the  rags  of 
her  old  vices,  may  press  on  to  that  high  and  happy  emulation,  to 
be  found  the  soberest,  wisest,  and  most  Christian  people  at  that 
day  when  Thou,  the  eternal  and  shortly-expected  King,  shalt  open 
the  clouds  to  judge  the  several  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and,  dis- 
tributing national  honours  and  rewards  to  religious  and  just  com- 
monwealths, shalt  put  an  end  to  all  earthly  tyrannies,  proclaiming 
thy  universal  and  mild  monarchy  through  Heaven  and  Earth. 
When  they,  undoubtedly,  that  by  their  labours,  counsels,  and 
prayers,  have  been  earnest  for  the  common  good  of  religion  and 
their  country  shall  receive,  above  the  inferior  orders  of  the  Blessed, 
the  regal  addition  of  Principalities,  Legions,  and  Thrones  into  their 
glorious  titles,  and,  in  supereminence  of  beatific  vision  progressing 
the  dateless  and  irrevoluble  circle  of  Eternity,  shall  clasp  insepar- 
able hands  with  joy  and  bliss  in  over-measure  for  ever.  But  they, 
contrary,  that,  by  the  impairing  and  diminution  of  the  true  Faith, 
the  distresses  and  servitude  of  their  country,  aspire  to  high  dignity, 
rule,  and  promotion  here,  after  a  shameful  end  in  this  life  (which 
God  grant  them  !)  shall  be  thrown  down  eternally  into  the  darkest 
and  deepest  gulf  of  Hell ;  where,  under  the  despiteful  control,  the 
trample  and  spurn,  of  all  the  other  Damned,  that  in  the  anguish  of 
their  torture  shall  have  no  other  ease  than  to  exercise  a  raving  and 
bestial  tyranny  over  them  as  their  slaves  and  negroes,  they  shall 
remain  in  that  plight  for  ever,  the  basest,  the  lowermost,  the  most 
dejected,  most  underfoot  and  down-trodden,  vassals  of  Perdition.'' 

Although  Milton  had  not  chosen  to  put  his  name  to  the 


248  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

pamphlet,  he  was  not  ashamed  of  it.  He  seems  even  to  have 
been  at  some  pains  to  circulate  it  in  proper  quarters ;  for 
copies  exist  which  he  himself  presented  to  friends  or  to 
libraries.  In  looking  over  the  various  copies  in  the  British 
Museum  library,  I  came  upon  one  which  interested  me 
particularly.  On  the  title-page,  in  the  place  where  the 
author's  name  should  have  been  printed,  it  bears  the  words 
"  By  Mr.  John  Milton"  written,  with  peculiar  neatness,  in  his 
own  hand ;  and  a  little  lower  on  the  same  page,  in  the  same 
hand,  are  the  words  "  Ex  Dono  Authoris,"  showing  that  it 
was  a  presentation-copy.  Sticking  in  some  of  the  letters  I 
could  still  see  particles  of  the  silvery  dust  which  had  been 
thrown  over  the  writing  while  the  ink  was  still  wet,  to  serve 
the  purpose  of  our  modern  blotting-paper.  Nay,  on  turning 
over  the  leaves,  I  found  that,  before  giving  away  this  copy, 
Milton  had  taken  the  trouble  of  correcting  with  his  pen  the 
"  faults  escap't  in  the  printing,"  of  which  there  is  a  list  as 
usual  at  the  beginning.  In  twelve  several  cases  he  had 
written  the  verbal  correction  in  the  margin,  or  ticked  in 
an  omitted  comma.1 

Hardly  can  this  first  pamphlet  of  Milton's  have  been  in 
circulation  when  his  second  appeared.  It  is  a  much  slighter 
affair,  and  is  less  a  general  manifesto  of  Milton's  opinions 
than  a  reply  to  a  particular  form  of  the  argument  on  the 
other  side. 

Among  the  Pro-Episcopal  pamphlets  that  had  been  recently 
issued,  we  noted,  in  addition  to  Hall's,  the  short  one  prepared 
at  Hall's  request  by  Usher,  and  published  towards  the  end 
of  May,  under  the  title  The  Judgment  of  Doctor  Eainoldes 
touching  the  originall  of  Episcopacy,  more  largely  confirmed 

1  The  copy  is  among  the  King's  Pam-       title-page — "  By  Mr.  John  Milton  "  and 

phlets,  with  the  press-mark  3512G-G-3-  "  E\Doj10  Authoris  "-are  in  Milton's 

12  own  hand.    A  particular  stroke  through 

As  I  have  already  had  public  occasion  the  J,  usual  in  Milton's  signature,  is 

to  refer  to  this  copy,  as  exhibiting  an  wanting ;   and  it  is  suggested  that  the 

autograph  of  Milton  not  detected  till  inscriptions  are  Thomason's  or  by  his 

my  reference  to  it,  I  retain  what  I  have  order.      I  remain  unconvinced.     At  all 

written  in  the  text.     I  ought  to  add,  events  the  marginal  corrections  of  the 

however,    that   some   of   the   Museum  text  of  the  pamphlet  are  Milton's.  There 

officials   have   expressed   their   doubts  *s  no  doubt  about  that, 
to  me  whether  the  inscriptions  on  the 


i64i.]  MILTON'S  SECOND  PAMPHLET. 

out  of  Antiquity  by  James,  Archbishop  of  Arniayh.  We 
merely  noted  the  appearance  of  this  tract  as  adding  to  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  Root-and-Branch  party.  It 
added  to  their  difficulties  by  exhibiting  among  the  opponents 
of  their  views  not  only  Hall,  the  Oxford  Divines,  and  other 
churchmen  more  or  less  of  Laudiau  reputation,  but  also  the 
prelate  who  had  hitherto  been  perhaps  the  most  popular  and 
venerated  among  the  Puritans,  as  he  was  certainly  the  most 
famous  by  his  erudition.  It  is  necessary  now  to  look  at  the 
tract  itself. Three  of  the  sixteen  pages  of  which  it  con- 
sists are  a  quotation  or  reprint  of  that  "  Judgment  of  Doctor 
Rainoldes  "  which  gives  the  tract  part  of  its  title.  Dr.  John 
Reynolds  was  an  Elizabethan  divine  (1550 — 1607)  whose 
memory  was  still  green.  He  had  been  President  of  Corpus 
Christi  College,  Oxford ;  and,  as  he  had  been  of  Puritan  or 
Low-Church  sympathies,  and  had  declined  a  bishopric,  any 
views  of  his  as  to  the  origin  of  Episcopacy  were  peculiarly 
free  from  suspicion.1  Well,  in  one  of  his  writings,  published 
in  1584,  he  had  summed  up  his  views  on  this  subject  as 
follows  : — "  When  Elders  were  ordained  by  the  Apostles  in 
"  every  church  through  every  city  to  feed  the  flock  of  Christ, 
"  whereof  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  overseers,  they, 
"  to  the  intent  they  might  the  better  do  it  by  common  con- 
"  sent,  did  use  to  assemble  themselves  and  meet  together. 
"  In  the  church -meetings,  for  the  more  orderly  handling  and 
"  concluding  of  things  pertaining  to  their  charge,  they  chose 
"  one  amongst  them  to  be  the  President  of  their  company 
"  and  moderator  of  their  actions ;  as,  in  the  Church  of 
"  Ephesus,  though  it  had  sundry  elders  and  pastors  to  guide 
"  it,  yet  amongst  these  sundry  was  one  chief,  whom  our 
"  Saviour  calleth  The  Angel  of  the  Church,  and  writeth  that 
"  to  him  which  by  him  the  rest  should  know.  And  this  is  he 
"  whom  afterward,  in  the  Primitive  Church,  the  Fathers  called 
"  Bishop.  For,  as  the  name  of  Ministers,  common  to  all 
"  them  who  serve  Christ  in  the  stewardship  of  the  mysteries 
"  of  God, — that  is,  in  preaching  the  Gospel, — is  now,  by  the 
"  custom  of  the  English  speech,  restrained  to  elders  who  are 

'  Wood's  Athon.  II.  12-19  and  I.  635. 


250  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  under  a  Bishop,  so  the  name  of  Bishop,  common  to  all 
"  elders  and  pastors  of  the  Church,  was  then,  by  the  usual 
"  language  of  the  Fathers,  appropriated  to  him  who  had  the 
"  presidentship  over  the  Elders."-  —  Such  was  Keynolds's 
summary  as  to  the  origin  of  Episcopacy ;  and  it  was  this 
very  moderate  view,  falling  so  far  short  of  the  High- Church 
theory,  that  Usher  was  prepared  to  adopt  and  to  confirm. 
His  confirmations  of  it  occupy  the  rest  of  the  tract.  In 
an  array  of  learned  quotations,  all  punctually  cited,  and 
with  the  original  Greek  or  Latin  in  the  margin,  Usher 
argues  for  the  identity,  as  alleged  by  Keynolds,  of  the  first 
Bishops  with  those  who  are  called  in  the  New  Testament 
"  The  Angels  of  the  Churches,"  and  also  for  the  governing 
or  presidential  authority  of  these  original  Bishops.  That 
Timothy  was  the  first  "  Tlpoeo-ra)?,  or  antistes,  or  president 
of  the  Ephesian  Presbytery,"  and  also  the  Angel  of  the 
Ephesian  Church,  is  argued  from  Scripture,  from  the  words 
of  Leontius,  Bishop  of  Magnesia,  at  the  Council  of  Chal- 
cedon,  from  the  admission  of  Beza  and  the  authority  of 
Eusebius,  and  from  passages  in  two  ancient  treatises  con- 
cerning the  martyrdom  of  Timothy :  "  the  one  nameless, 
"  in  the  library  of  Photius ;  the  other  bearing  the  name  of 
"  Polycrates,  even  of  that  Polycrates  who  was  not  only 
"  himself  Bishop  of  this  Church  of  Ephesus,  but  born  also 
"  36  or  37  years  after  St.  John  wrote  the  forenamed  Epistle 
"  unto  the  Angel  of  that  Church,  as  it  appeareth  by  the 
"  years  he  was  of  when  he  wrote  that  Epistle  unto  Victor, 
'•  Bishop  of  Eome,  wherein  he  maketh  mention  of  seven 
"  kinsmen  of  his  that  had  been  bishops."  Usher  then  fol- 
lows the  argument,  in  the  same  detailed  manner,  through 
Ignatius,  Polycarp,  and  Irenseus.  On  the  testimony  of 
Irenseus  he  lays  great  stress,  inasmuch  as  Irenseus  not  only 
knew  Smyrna  and  its  bishops  well,  but  had  been  present 
when  Polycarp  himself  "did  discourse  of  his  conversation 
"  with  St.  John  and  of  those  things  which  he  had  heard  from 
"  them  who  had  seen  our  Lord  Jesus."  Then,  after  Irenseus, 
there  come  Tertullian,  Hegesippus,  Eusebius  (with  a  reference 
also  by  Symeon  Metaphrastes  to  "  some  part  of  Eusebius,  as 


1641.]  MILTON'S  SECOND  PAMPHLET.  251 

it  seeineth,  that  is  not  come  into  our  hands"),  Jerome, 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  &c.  Usher  ends  in  the  conclusion 
that  the  Angels  of  the  Seven  Churches  in  the  Apocalypse 
were  seven  original  Bishops ;  and  he  appends  a  suggestion, 
derived  from  an  anonymous  writer  mentioned  by  Photius, 
that  St.  John  himself,  on  his  recall  from  Patmos,  lived  in 
Ephesus,  exercising  a  kind  of  Primacy  or  Archbishopric  over 
the  Seven  Bishops,  and  so  bequeathing  a  metropolitan  dignity 
or  Patriarchate  to  the  Ephesian  see. 

Milton  probably  regarded  Usher  in  this  tract  as  a  con- 
summate example  of  those  " Antiquitarians "  ("Dryasdusts" 
is  now  the  accepted  modern  name  for  them)  whom  he  had 
denounced  in  his  first  pamphlet  as  one  of  the  three  classes 
of  persons  by  whom  the  Reformation  had  been  hindered. 
Always  a  man  that  would  fly  at  high  game  rather  than  at 
inferior  birds,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  attempting  a  reply 
even  to  this  tract  of  the  renowned  Irish  Primate,  which 
might  be  regarded  as  Antiquitarianism  at  its  best.  Accord- 
ingly, in  the  course  of  June  or  July,  as  I  calculate,  there  was 
published,  at  the  shop  of  the  same  Underbill  in  Wood  Street 
who  had  published  Milton's  former  pamphlet,  a  smaller 
pamphlet,  also  anonymous,  but  of  which  there  are  copies 
with  Milton's  name  inserted  in  the  title-page  by  contem- 
porary hands,  and  one  copy  at  least  with  the  words  "  By 
John  Milton  "  on  the  title-page  in  (as  I  thought  when  I  saw 
it )  Milton's  own  hand.1  The  pamphlet  is  entitled,  "  Of  Pre- 
latical  Episcopacy,  and  whither  it  may  be  deduc'd  from  the 
Aimtolical  times  by  vertut  of  those  testimonies  which  are 
alleged  to  that  purpose  in  some  late  Treatises;  one  whereof 
goes  under  the  name  of  James,  Archbishop  of  Armagh. 
London :  Printed  by  R.  0.  and  G.  D.  for  Thomas  Underhill, 
and  are  to  be  sold  at  the  signe  of  the  Bible  in  Wood 
Street:  1641." 

The  pamphlet  consists  of  twenty-four  small  quarto  pages. 
It  opens  with  an  expression  of  the  author's  contempt  for  the 
Antiquitarian  or  Dryasdust  mode  of  thought.  There  are 

1  King's  Pamphlet*,  British  Museum,  E.  164. 


252  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

men,  he  says,  who,  not  content  with  the  light  of  Scripture  on 
questions  of  policy,  or  with  the  broad  and  free  exercise  of 
the  human  intellect  studying  human  needs  and  uses,  "  cannot 
"  think  any  doubt  resolved,  and  any  doctrine  confirmed, 
"  unless  they  run  to  that  indigested  heap,  and  fry  of  authors, 
"  which  they  call  Antiquity."  In  especial, in  Church-questions 
they  run  to  the  Fathers.  But  who  are  the  Fathers  ?  "  What- 
"  soever  Time  or  the  heedless  hand  of  blind  Chance  hath 
"  drawn  down  from  of  old  to  this  present  in  her  huge  drag- 
"  net,  whether  fish  or  sea-weed,  shells  or  shrubs,  unpicked, 
"  unchosen,  these  are  the  Fathers."  Never theless  it  might  be 
well  to  follow  one  of  these  Antiquitarian  spirits  in  his 
"  foraging  after  straw,"  to  see  what  his  findings  were  really 
worth.  The  tract,  accordingly,  is  an  attempted  answer,  step 
by  step,  and  citation  by  citation,  to  that  of  Usher,  with 
allusions,  but  only  allusions,  to  others  than  Usher.  Each  fact 
or  citation  of  Usher's  is,  as  it  were,  lifted  by  the  roots,  and 
held  up  to  the  public  gaze,  in  order  that  unlearned  people 
may  be  disabused  of  any  superstitious  idea  of  its  value.  A 
few  pages  are  first  given  to  the  subject  of  Timothy's  alleged 
Episcopate  at  Ephesus,  and  to  an  examination  of  Usher's 
witnesses  for  it.  The  conclusion  is  that,  when  the  character, 
opportunities,  and  words  of  each  witness  are  examined  in  the 
light  of  such  common  sense  as  men  would  apply  to  any 
ordinary  matter,  his  credibility  vanishes.  On  two  of  the 
witnesses  cited, — the  anonymous  writer  quoted  by  Photius, 
and  the  redoubtable  Polycrates  who  wrote  the  letter  to  Pope 
Victor  in  which  he  spoke  of  having  seven  brothers  who 
were  bishops  as  well  as  himself, — Milton  is  grimly  facetious. 
What  ?  Eely  on  a  nameless  author  quoted  by  Photius,  who 
himself  lived  900  years  after  Christ !  Why  not  as  well  take 
from  the  same  Photius  the  story,  evidently  quite  as  precious 
to  Photius,  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  Seven  Sleepers,  who  had 
slept  in  a  cave  372  years  without  food  ?  Or  Polycrates  !  If 
Usher  had  told  his  readers  that  this  Polycrates  declared  "  that 
St.  John  was  a  priest  and  wore  the  golden  breastplate,"  and 
had  told  them  that  the  very  Pope  Victor  to  whom  his  letter 
was  addressed,  so  far  from  showing  him  respect,  "excom- 


1641.]  MILTON'S  THIRD  I-AMPULET.  253 

municated  him  aud  all  the  Asian  Churches  for  celebrating 
their  Easter  judaically,"  would  it  not  have  been  felt  that  his 
"  traditional  ware  "  was  little  to  be  esteemed,  and  that  he 
might  "  go  back  to  the  seven  bishops  his  kinsmen  "  and  not 
be  much  missed  ?  In  the  same  half-contemptuous  style 
Milton  follows  Usher  in  his  appeals  to  Ignatius,  Irenaeus, 
Tertullian,  Metaphrastes,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  &c.,  en- 
deavouring to  show  that  no  proof  comes  out  of  any  of  them 
of  an  apostolically  deduced  Episcopate,  or  prelacy  over  presby- 
ters, in  Smyrna  or  in  Rome,  any  more  than  in  Ephesus.  In 
all  Milton  shows  competent  scholarship  even  against  Usher, 
though  doubtless  some  of  his  readings  in  the  Fathers  were 
but  researches  for  the  occasion  in  locis  citatis  after  he  had 
Usher's  tract  in  his  hand. 

All  but  simultaneously  with  this  second  pamphlet  of 
Milton's  must  have  appeared  his  third.  It  was  a  reply  to 
an  eminent  Prelate,  but  one  to  whom  Milton  felt  a 
fiercer  antagonism  than  to  Usher,  and  whom  he  classed 
not  with  the  Antiquitarians  or  Dryasdusts,  but  with  an 
order  possessing  a  more  brilliant  vein  of  popular  talent  and 
a  greater  capacity  for  mischief.  This  was  Bishop  Hall. 

The  bulky  answer  of  the  Smectymnuans,  published  about 
March  20,  to  Hall's  Humble  Remonstrance,  published  in  the 
end  of  January,  had  not  passed  unnoticed  by  the  Bishop. 
Within  the  space  of  three  weeks  his  ready  pen  had  written  a 
rejoinder  as  bulky,  which  was  published  about  the  middle  of 
April,  with  this  title :  "  A  Defence  of  the  Humble  Remonstrance 
against  the  frivolous  and  false  exceptions  of  Smectymnuus ; 
wherein  the  right  of  Liturgie  and  Episcopacie  is  clearly  vin- 
dicated from  tJie  vain  cavils  and  challenges  of  the  Answerers : 
By  the  Author  of  the  said  Humble  Remonstrance :  Seconded 
(by  way  of  appendance)  with  the  Judgment  of  the  famous 
Divine  of  the  Palatinate,  Abrahamus  Scultetus,  late  Professor 
of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Heidelberg,  concerning  tlic 
divine  right  of  Episcopacie  and  the  no-right  of  Lay-elder- 
ship ;  faithfully  translated  out  of  the  Latin."  l  Prefixed  to  this 

»  "  London :    Printed    for    Nathan.       the  registration  nt  Stationer*'  Hall  in 
I'.utt, -i  Hull,    near   St.       April  12,  1641. 

Austin's  Gate,   1W1."      The  date  of 


254  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

pamphlet,  which  consists  of  180  pages  in  all,  is  an  epistle  to 
the  King.  "  Your  Majesty,"  it  says,  "  was  pleased  to  cast  a 
"  gracious  eye  upon  a  late  Humble  Eemonstrance  made  to 
"  the  High  Court  of  Parliament,  bemoaning  the  lawless 
"  frequence  of  scandalous  libels,  and  modestly  asserting  the 
"  true  right  of  Liturgy  and  Episcopacy.  I  little  thought  that 
"  so  meek  and  gall-less  a  discourse  could  have  irritated  any 
"  the  least  opposition ;  but  now  .  .  .  Yet  the  riot  of  these 
"  impotent  assailants  should  not  easily  have  drawn  me  forth, 
"  had  I  not  perceived  that  their  confident  ostentation  and 
"  proud  carriage  in  the  affray  hath  won  them  (how  unde- 
"  served  soever)  opinion  of  skill  with  their  credulous  abettors, 
"  and  thereby  some  disadvantage  to  my  just  cause."  Eight 
pages  are  then  occupied  with  preliminary  skirmishings. 
Much  is  made  of  the  fact  that  his  assailants  are  a  conclave 
of  several  persons,  and  more  of  that  blunder  of  theirs,  in 
the  outset  of  their  pamphlet,  where  they  had  spoken  of  the 
"  Areopagi  "  as  Athenian  judges.  "  The  Areopagi  !  Who 
"  were  these  ?  Truly,  my  masters,  I  had  thought  this  had 
"  been  the  name  of  the  place,  not  of  the  men."  About 
twenty-four  pages  are  then  devoted  to  the  subject  of  the 
Liturgy,  and  126  to  the  subject  of  Episcopacy.  There  is 
in  these  pages  a  real  endeavour  to  be  argumentative,  though 
still  with  much  of  that  reckless  use  of  adjectives,  presup- 
posing himself  right  and  his  opponents  wrong,  which  is 
Hall's  characteristic.  Ten  pages  are  given  to  a  criticism 
of  the  Postscript  of  the  Sniectyinnuans  concerning  the  history 
of  Episcopacy  in  England, — which  postscript  Hall  declares 
to  be  only  a  reproduction  from  Leighton's  "  Sion's  Plea  against 
Prelaty  "  ;  and  the  last  twelve  pages  consist  of  the  translation 
of  the  judgment  of  Scultetus.  That  judgment  had  appeared 
originally  in  a  brief  tract  of  Scultetus  in  which  Hall  had 
been  referred  to  by  name  and  his  opinions  on  Episcopacy 
defended.1  Hall,  though  still  writing  only  as  "  The  Humble 
Remonstrant,"  thus  indirectly  acknowledges  the  authorship. 

1  Abraham  Scultetus,  alias  Scultet,  about  1594,  under  the  protection  of  the 
or  Schultz,  was  a  German  Protestant  Elector  Palatine,  and  had  become  Pro- 
divine  of  some  distinction,  who  had  fessor  of  Theology  there  in  1618.  He 
vsettled  in  Heidelberg  as  a  preacher,  had  visited  England  in  1612  and  become 


1641.]  MILTON'S  THIRD  PAMPHLET.  255 

Two  months  and  a  half  had  elapsed  since  this  reply  of 
Hall  to  the  Smectymnuans  had  appeared,  and  he  must  have 
been  fancying  that  he  had  silenced  them,  when,  towards  the 
end  of  June,  there  appeared  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Answer  to 
the  Humble  Remonstrance  f ram  the  unjust  imputations  of  Frivo- 
lousnesse  and  Falsehood;  wherein  tlie  cause  of  Liturgy  and 
Episcopacy  is  further  debated ;  By  the  same  Smectymnuus"  l 
In  a  note  of  the  Printer,  prefixed  to  this  pamphlet,  he  says, 
"  The  crowding  of  so  many  little  pamphlets  into  the  press 
hath  for  many  weeks  detained  this  Book,  to  the  great  grief  of 
the  Authors."  To  have  been  got  ready  so  soon  as  this  note 
implies,  the  pamphlet  is  a  very  bulky  one.  It  consists  of 
219  pages.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  there  were 
several  hands  to  the  task.  The  pamphlet  is  dedicated  to  the 
Parliament.  It  again  goes  over  the  whole  field  of  debate 
concerning  the  Liturgy  and  Episcopacy,  in  the  somewhat 
heavy  but  painstaking  Smectymnuan  style.  In  the  prelimi- 
nary remarks  the  writers  show  that  they  have  been  nettled 
by  Hall's  imputation  upon  their  scholarship  on  account  of 
their  blundering  use  of  the  word  "  Areopagi."  Does  he  really 
think  that  they  were  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  the 
more  correct  word  would  have  been  "  AreopagiUe,"  though 
"  Areopagi "  might  be  used  for  shortness  ?  And  is  the 
Humble  Remonstrant  himself  so  free  from  verbal  slips  that 
he  may  make  merry  over  so  small  a  matter  ?  What  a  piece 
of  slipshod  English,  for  example,  is  this  in  his  own  last 
performance — "  These  otlier  verbal  exceptions  are  but  light 
froth,  and  will  sink  alone  "  !  The  Remonstrant's  "  light  froth 
sinking  alone"  is  as  good  a  blunder  any  day,  think  the 
Smectymnuans,  as  their  "  Areopagi "  ;  and,  to  show  him  that 
it  had  amused  others  as  well  as  themselves,  they  tell  him 
this  story  in  the  margin  : — "  A  gentleman-student  in  Phi- 


.ir.pi. tinted   with  thu  chiuf  Kn^li.sh  di-  not  boon  able  to  lay  my  hands  on  tho 

vincH,    including  Hull.     Mix  last  yean  particular    tract    of    Scultotus    from 

were  much  disturbed  by  tho  ruin  <>f  thu  which  Hall  quotes, 

cause  of  his  patron,  thu  Klui-t«»r  I'al.-itinu  !  "Printed  for  John  Rothwell  at  tho 

Frederick,  &fag  of  Bohemia,    at    thu  Sunno  in   Paul's  Churchyard :    1641." 

buttle  of  Pnitfiiu  in  ItJ'Jp;  and  ho  had  The  date  of  tho  registration  at  Sta- 

<li«l  in  retirement  at  Kuidun  in  1025.  tionern'  Hall  i*  June  26,  1641. 
•:.,  nary,  art  X->/^/.).    I  have 


256  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  losophy,  that  was  by  chance  present  at  the  reading  of  this 
"  passage,  took  such  a  fancy  to  this  rare  mystery  of  light 
"  froth  sinking  alone  that  he  would  take  no  nay  till  he  had 
"  entreated  us  to  obtain  so  much  of  the  Eemonstrant  as  to 
"  publish  his  receipt  of  making  light  froth  sink  alone,  that 
"  it  may  be  added  to  the  Secrets  of  Alexis  or  the  rare 
"  experiments  of  Baptista  Porta."  l 

Whether  Milton  was  the  "gentleman-student  of  Phi- 
losophy" who  thus  dropped  in  upon  the  Smectymnuans 
when  they  were  reading  Hall's  Defence,  and  helped  them 
to  a  laugh  over  his  "light  froth  sinking  alone,"  is  open  to 
guess.  But  precisely  what  they  represent  the  gentleman- 
student  as  doing  for  them  Milton  was  doing  for  them  on  a 
larger  scale.  Knowing  Young  and  his  brother- Smectymnuans 
well,  and  dropping  in  upon  them  while  they  were  busy  with 
their  Vindication,  it  had  evidently  occurred  to  Milton  that, 
though  they  were  very  respectable  reasoners  and  theo- 
logians, and  might  be  safely  entrusted  with  the  solid  and 
grave  parts  of  the  controversy  against  Hall,  yet  they  were 
somewhat  too  Dutch-built  for  the  lighter  style  of  fighting 
necessary  in  a  public  encounter  with  the  English  Persius 
and  Seneca.  It  might  be  a  service  both  to  them  and  to  the 
cause  to  appear  as  their  auxiliary  in  the  battle,  and,  while 
they  were  laboriously  arguing  the  real  questions  in  a  way  to 
satisfy  the  judicious,  to  take  care  that  Hall  should  not  have 
even  the  apparent  advantage,  with  the  literary  order  of 
critics,  by  his  wit,  his  culture,  and  his  flowers  of  rhetoric. 
In  resolving  to  become  such  a  light-horseman  to  the  Smec- 
tymnuans Milton  had,  I  believe,  a  peculiar  pleasure.  Hall,  I 
believe,  was  one  of  his  favourite  aversions.  Not  only  in  the 
ecclesiastical  opinions  and  conduct  of  the  man,  but,  as  I 
think,  in  the  whole  cast  and  style  of  his  intellect,  as  shown 

1  The    "Secrets   of   Alexis,"  origin-  of  travel  over  the  world,  and  published 

ally    in  Italian,  but  of    which    there  in    his   old   age    (see    art.   Alexis    in 

were    translations    in     Latin     (1563),  Bayle's  Diet. ).   The  Magia  Naturalis  or 

French  (1565),  and  English  (1568),  was  Natural  Magic  of  the  Neapolitan  Bap- 

a  very  popular  book  of  the  sixteenth  tista  Porta   (1550 — 1615)  was  a  more 

century,  purporting  to  be  a  collection  important     collection     of    facts     and 

of    marvels,     medical     and     magical,  opinions  in   physical  science,    and    is 

collected    by  a    Piedmontese,    calling  now  better  remembered, 
himself  Alexis,  during  fifty-seven  years 


1641.]  MILTON'S  THIRD  PAMPHLET.  257 

in  his  writings,  whether  in  prose  or  in  verse,  Milton  found 
reason  for  intense  dislike.  He  regarded  Hall,  I  believe,  as, 
to  a  great  extent,  a  literary  impostor,  a  man  of  an  essentially 
coarse  and  mean  order  of  talent,  who  had  been  rated  far  above 
his  deserts,  and  whom  it  would  be  a  service  to  literature,  as 
well  as  to  sound  Church-polity,  to  blast  and  show  up.  It 
was  nothing  less  than  this,  at  all  events,  that  he  attempted. 
Never  had  Hall,  in  all  his  forty  years  of  public  and  literary 
life,  been  so  handled  as  he  was  now  to  be  handled,  in  his 
sixty-eighth  year  and  with  all  his  episcopal  honours  thick 
about  him,  by  the  new  pamphleteer  in  Aldersgate  Street, 
who  was  not  half  his  age.  The  venerable  Prelate  can  hardly 
have  read  the  Vindication  of  the  Smectymnuans  in  reply  to 
his  Defence  when  word  was  brought  to  him  of  another 
pamphlet,  by  some  friend  of  the  Smectymnuans,  which  it 
would  be  well  for  him  to  see.  It  was  entitled  "  Animad- 
versions  upon  the  Remonstrant's  Defence  against  Smcctymnuus. 
London :  Printed  for  Thomas  Underhttl,  and  are  to  be  sold  at 
the  signe  of  the  Bible  in  Wood  Street :  1 6  4 1 ." l  The  publisher, 
it  will  be  seen,  was  the  same  who  had  published  the  two 
preceding  pamphlets  of  Milton.  Like  them,  this  was 
anonymous. 

"  Animadversions  "  is  a  very  good  name  for  the  pamphlet. 
It  consists  of  sixty-eight  small  quarto  pages,  introduced  by 
an  apologetic  preface.  For  Milton,  knowing  that  he  is  to 
show  Hall  no  mercy,  and  is  to  employ  against  him  every 
cracker  of  jest,  pun,  personality,  or  scurrility,  foresees  that 
some  "  softer-spirited  Christians  "  may  take  offence  at  such 
a  style  of  controversy  on  such  serious  topics  with  a  man  of 
such  age  and  dignity.  "  In  the  detecting  and  convincing,"  he 
says,  "  of  any  notorious  enemy  to  truth  and  his  country's 
"  peace,  especially  that  is  conceited  to  have  a  voluble  and 


1  The  pamphlet  not  being  registered  12 ;  and,  as'no  reference  is  made  to  Hall's 

in   Stationers'    Hall,    that   convenient  ncjct  pamphlet  in   reply  to  the  Smoc- 

means  of  ascertaining  the  date  fails  me.  tymnuans,  it  must  have  appeared  before 

But  it  may  be  fixed  ny  other  evidence  that  pamphlet  was  published,  i.e.,  as 

almost  certainly  to  July.    As  reference  wo  shall  see,  before  July  28.     But  in 

is  made  in  the  pamphlet  to  the  Petitions  the  pamphlet  Milton  has  an  allusion  to 

of  the  Universities  for  Deans  and  Chap-  "  this  hot  season  "  ;  whence  July  is  the 

tors,  it  must  have  appeared  after  May  likely  month. 

VOL.  II  8 


258  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  smart  fluence  of  tongue,  ...  it  will  be  nothing  disagreeing 
"  from  Christian  meekness  to  handle  such  a  one  in  a  rougher 
"  accent,  and  to  send  home  his  haughtiness  well  bespurted 
"  with  his  own  holy  water."     He  hints,  moreover,  that  Hall, 
in  his  defences  of  Episcopacy,  has  shown  insincerity  and 
double-dealing,  abandoning  in   his  later  defences  the  high 
Laudian  position  he  had  taken  in  his  Episcopacy  by  Divine 
Eight,  and  adapting  himself  meanly  to  the  changed  tune  of 
the  times  by  at  length  leaving  Episcopacy  "hanging  by  a 
twined  thread,  not  from  Divine  command,  but  from  Apo- 
stolical precedence  or  assent."      On  this  account  there  need 
be  the  less   respect   for  him.      Again,  "Although,  in  the 
"  serious  uncasing  of  a  grand  imposture  (for,  to  deal  plainly 
"  with  you,  Readers,  Prelatry  is  no  better)  there  be  mixed 
"  here  and  there  such  a  grim  laughter  as  may  appear  at  the 
"  same  time  in  an  austere  visage,  it  cannot  be  taxed  of  levity 
"  or  insolence ;  for  even  this  vein  of  laughing  (as  I  could 
"  produce  out  of  grave  authors)  hath  ofttimes  a  strong  and 
"  sinewy  force    in  teaching  and    confuting."     Accordingly, 
throughout  the  pamphlet    Milton's  plan    is    as  follows: — - 
Extracting  passage  after  passage  verbatim  from  Hall's  De- 
fence, with  reference  to  the  page  and  section  from  which  it 
is  taken,  he  appends  to  each  passage  a  satirical  comment  as 
pungent  as  he  can  concoct.      The  comment  is  generally  very 
short,  and  such  as  a  critic,  reading,  with  pencil  in  hand,  a 
book  that  disgusted  him,  might  jot  down  at  the  moment  on  the 
margin  against  this  passage  or  that  passage.     Sometimes,  how- 
ever, it  is  longer  and  more  careful,  and  involves  sarcastic  re- 
ferences to  Hall's  previous  writings,  either  as  already  familiar 
to  Milton,  or  as  looked  into  for  the  occasion.     These  references 
are  more  particularly  to  Hall's  Satires  published  in  1597-8, 
and  to  another  even  more  unclerical  production  of  Hall's 
earlier  life,  published  abroad  and  anonymously  in  1607  under 
the  title  Mundus  Alter  et  Idem,  and  consisting  of  a  kind  of 
Rabelaisian  fiction  in  Latin,  describing  the  imaginary  countries 
of  Crapulia  (Gutsy-Land),  Pamphagonia  (the  Kingdom  of 
Stomach),  Yvronia  (the  Dominion  of  Drink),  &c.,  of  which 
a  jocular  map  is  prefixed.     This  last-named  publication  of 


1641.]  MILTON'S  THIRD  PAMPHLET.  259 

Hall's,  which  by  this  time  he  probably  wished  at  the  bottom 
of  the  Red  Sea,  was  too  fit  for  Milton's  purpose  to  be  over- 
looked. He  may  have  been  at  some  trouble  to  obtain  a  copy 
of  the  little  volume,  which  is  very  rare  now,  and  was  probably 
a  rarity  even  then ;  but,  once  he  had  a  copy,  Hall  might 
expect  to  hear  of  it 

Some  of  Milton's  "  Animadversions  "  are  really  so  much 
beyond  the  bounds  of  modern  good  taste  that  it  is  difficult 
to  quote  them.  Specimens,  however,  must  be  given,  not  only 
because  it  is  fair  that  the  reader  should  see  Milton,  for  better 
or  worse,  exactly  as  he  was,  but  also  because  there  was  to  be 
plenty  of  retort  upon  him  on  this  very  ground. 

Of  course,  Milton  has  a  word  of  defence  for  the  slip  of  his 
friends  the  Smectymnuans  in  talking  of  "  the  Areopngi."  Of 
course,  also,  Hall's  "  light  froth  sinking  alone  "  does  not  pass 
without  notice.  But  the  following  is  more  characteristic. 
The  Remonstrant  having,  at  page  34,  used  these  words  in 
reference  to  the  Smectymnuans,  "  Now  come  these  brotherly 
slanderers,"  Milton's  answer  is,  "  Go  on,  dissembling  Joab, 
"  as  still  your  use  is :  call  brother  and  smite,  call  brother 
"  and  smite,  till  it  be  said  of  you,  as  the  like  was  of  Herod, 
"  a  man  had  better  be  your  hog  than  your  brother."  Again, 
the  Remonstrant  having  said,  at  page  37,  "Alas!  we  could 
"  tell  you  of  China,  Japan,  Peru,  Brazil,  New  England,  Vir- 
"  ginia,  and  a  thousand  others  that  never  had  any  Bishops 
"  to  this  day,"  Milton  is  down  upon  him  thus  :  "  We  can  help 
"  you,  and  tell  you  where  they  have  been  ever  since  Constan- 
"  tine's  time  at  the  least, — in  a  place  called  Mandus  Alter  ct 
"  Idem,  in  the  spacious  and  rich  countries  of  Crapulia 
"  (Gutsy-land),  Pamphagonia  (Kingdom  of  Stomach),  Yvroniu 
"  (Dominion  of  Drink),"  &c.  Again,  the  Remonstrant  having, 
at  p.  141,  made  this  appeal  to  the  Sraectymnuans, "  If  yet  you* 
can  blush,"  Milton  declares  this  conceit  of  blushes  and  blush- 
ing to  be  so  hackneyed  that  to  see  it  in  a  book  again  is  more 
than  an  educated  reader  can  stand.  He  proceeds :  "  A  man 
"  would  think  you  had  eaten  over-liberally  of  Esau's  red 
"  porridge,  and  from  thence  dream  continually  of  bhishing, 
"  or,  perhaps,  to  heighten  your  fancy  in  writing,  are  wont  to 


260  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  sit  in  your  Doctor's  scarlet,  which,  through  your  eyes 
"  infecting  your  frequent  imagination  with  a  red  suffusion, 
"  begets  a  continual  thought  of  blushing,  that  you  thus  per- 
"  secute  ingenuous  men  over  all  your  book  with  this  one 
"  overtired  rubrical  conceit  of  blushing.  But,  if  you  have  no 
"  mercy  upon  them,  yet  spare  yourself,  lest  you  beguile  the 
"  good  galloway,  your  own  opiniaster  wit,  and  make  the  very 
"  conceit  itself  blush  with  spur-galling."  Here  is  another  bit, 
quoted  textually : — 

Remons.  p.  38.]  Remon.  No  one  clergy  in  the  whole  Christian 
world  yields  so  many  eminent  scholars,  learned  preachers,  grave, 
holy,  and  accomplished  divines,  as  this  Church  of  England  doth  at 
this  day. 

Answer.     Ha  !  ha  !  ha  ! 

I  have  stated  my  belief  that  the  Postscript  to  the  original 
pamphlet  of  Smectymnuus  was  contributed,  or  notes  for  it  at 
least,  by  Milton ;  and  reasons  have  already  appeared  which 
make  this  probable.  But  the  most  distinct  proof  is  furnished 
by  the  manner  in  which  Milton  replies  in  his  Animad- 
versions to  that  part  of  the  Eemonstrant's  Defence  which 
concerned  the  Postscript.  Hall  having  called  that  Postscript 
"  a  goodly  pasquin,  borrowed  for  a  great  part  out  of  Sion's 
Plea  or  the  Breviate  consisting  of  a  rhapsody  of  histories," — 
i.e.  having  insinuated  that  it  was  a  mere  compilation  either 
from  Alexander  Leighton's  Sion's  Plea  against  the  Prelacie 
(1628),  or  from  Prynne's  Breviate  of  the  Bishop's  Intolerable 
Usurpations  and  Encroachments  (1635), — Milton  replies  in 
words  which  seem  those  of  an  author  defending  himself 
against  a  charge  of  plagiarism.  "  How  wittily,"  he  says, 
"  you  tell  us  what  your  wonted  course  is  upon  the  like 
"  occasion  !  The  collection  was  taken,  be  it  known  to  you, 
"  from  as  authentic  authors  in  this  kind  as  any  in  a 
"  bishop's  library ;  and  the  collector  of  it  says  moreover 
"  that,  if  the  like  occasion  come  again,  he  shall  less  need 
"  the  help  of  breviates  or  historical  rhapsodies  than  your 
"  reverence,  to  eke  out  your  sermonings,  shall  need  repair  to 
"  postils  and  polyantheas  [viz.  Annotations  and  Collections 


1641.]  MILTON'S  THIRD  PAMPHLET.  261 

"  of  Beauties]."  After  which  virtual  acknowledgment  of 
the  authorship  of  the  Postscript  to  the  Smectymnuan 
treatise,  Milton  goes  on  to  animadvert  with  peculiar  em- 
phasis on  the  Bishop's  remarks  relating  to  it.  The  Remon- 
strant having  said  that  some  of  the  bad  or  ambitious 
bishops  mentioned  in  the  Postscript  were  Popish  bishops, 
Milton  replies  that,  so  long  as  the  Reformed  bishops  would 
bind  men  "  by  their  canon  law,"  enforce  upon  them  "  the  old 
riff-raff  of  Sarum,"  and  otherwise  walk  in  the  steps  of  the 
Popish  bishops,  they  must  take  the  consequences.  "  Could 
you  see  no  colleges,  no  hospitals,  built  ? "  asks  the  Remon- 
strant, beginning  an  enumeration  of  the  good  deeds  of  Bishops 
during  their  sway.  "  At  that  primero  of  piety,"  retorts  Milton, 
"  the  Pope  and  Cardinals  are  the  better  gamesters,  and  will 
cog  a  die  into  heaven  before  you."  "  No  churches  re-edified  ? " 
continues  Hall.  "  Yes,  more  churches  than  souls ! "  says 
Milton.  "  No  seduced  persons  reclaimed  ? "  "  More  reclaimed 
persons  seduced  ! "  "  No  hospitality  kept  ?  "  "  Bacchanalias 
good  store  in  every  bishop's  family,  and  good  gleeking 
[private  sport] ! "  "  No  diligence  in  preaching  ?  "  "  Scarce 
any  preaching  at  all!"  "  No  holiness  in  living  ?"  "No!"  The 
Remonstrant  ending  his  interrogatives  with  these  words, 
"  Truly,  bretliren,  I  can  say  no  more  but  that  the  fault  is  in 
your  eyes :  wipe  them  and  look  better,"  Milton  answers  in 
sheer  Billingsgate,  "  Wipe  your  fat  corpulencies  out  of  our 
light."  Nay,  he  gets  worse  and  worse.  The  introduction  in 
the  Smectymnuan  Postscript  of  the  proverb  "  The  Bishop's 
foot  hath  been  in  it,"  as  an  expression  of  the  popular  belief 
that  there  was  nothing  more  tainting  than  Episcopacy,  had 
given  particular  offence  to  Hall.  He  very  properly  says, 
"As  for  that  proverb  '  The  Bishop's  foot  Jiath  been  in  it;  it 
were  more  fit  for  a  scurra  in  trivio,  or  some  ribald  upon  an 
ale-bench."  Nevertheless,  as  Hall  himself  is  not  too  delicate 
to  avail  himself  of  the  proverb  in  his  turn,  but  adds  that 
people,  seeing  how  completely  his  refutation  has  spoilt  the 
Smectymnuan  book,  will  have  to  say  of  that  too,  "The 
Bishop's  foot  hath  been  in  it,"  Milton  shows  no  shame.  He 
rings  all  the  changes  he  can  think  of  on  the  ribald  proverb ; 


262  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

and  there  is  one  perfectly  outrageous  paragraph,  in  which  he 
revels  in  farther  allusions  not  only  to  the  Bishop's  foot,  but 
to  his  toes,  his  nightcap,  and  his  unwashed  socks. 

Enough  has  been  quoted  from  this  pamphlet  and  its  pre- 
decessors to  show  how  uncompromisingly  Milton  was  a  son  of 
Liberty,  and  how  ferociously  Eoot-and-Branch  he  was  on  the 
Church  question.  Of  the  splendours  of  the  pamphlets,  of 
the  passages  of  noble  thought  and  language  contained  in  them, 
no  one  can  have  an  idea  who  does  not  read  them  for  himself. 
Intermingled  even  with  the  scurrilities  of  the  "  Animad- 
versions "  there  are  bursts  of  real  prose  grandeur.  In  order, 
however,  that  we  may  have  clearer  ideas  as  to  some  of  those 
political  and  ecclesiastical  views  of  Milton  which  were 
contained  within  his  general  Koot-and-Branch  enthusiasm, 
a  few  quotations  will  be  useful.  We  take  them  from  the 
three  pamphlets  collectively,  prefixing  headings : — 

True  Politics  and  Modern  Politics. — "  It  is  a  work  good  and 
prudent  to  be  able  to  guide  one  man, — of  larger  extended  virtue,  to 
order  well  one  house ;  but  to  govern  a  nation  piously  and  justly, 
which  only  is  to  say  happily,  is  for  a  spirit  of  the  greatest  size  and 
divinest  metal.  And  certainly  of  no  less  a  mind,  nor  of  less  excel- 
lence, in  another  way,  were  they  who  by  writing  laid  the  solid 
and  true  foundations  of  this  science ;  which  being  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  life  of  man,  yet  there  is  no  art  that  hath  been 
more  cankered  in  her  principles,  more  soiled  and  slubbered  with 
aphorisming  pedantry,  than  the  art  of  Policy,  and  that  where  a  man 
would  think  should  least  be, — in  Christian  commonwealths.  They 
teach  not  that  to  govern  well  is  to  train  up  a  nation  in  true  wisdom 
and  virtue,  and  that  which  springs  from  thence,  magnanimity  (take 
heed  of  that !),  and  that  which  is  our  beginning,  regeneration,  and 
happiest  end,  likeness  to  God,  which  in  one  word  we  call  godliness  ; 
and  that  this  is  the  true  flourishing  of  a  land,  other  things  follow- 
ing as  the  shadow  does  the  substance.  To  teach  thus  were  mere 
pulpitry  to  them.  This  is  the  masterpiece  of  a  modern  politician  : 
how  to  qualify  and  mould  the  sufferance  and  subjection  of  the 
people  to  the  length  of  that  foot  that  is  to  tread  on  their  necks-; 
how  rapine  may  serve  itself  with  the  fair  and  honourable  pretences 
of  public  good ;  how  the  puny  Law  may  be  brought  under  the 
wardship  and  control  of  Lust  and  Will :  in  which  attempt  if  they  fall 


1641.]  PASSAGES  FROM  THE  PAMPHLETS.  263 

short,  then  must  a  superficial  colour  of  reputation  by  all  means, 
direct  or  indirect,  be  gotten  to  wash  over  the  unsightly  bruise  of 
honour.  To  make  men  governable  in  this  manner,  their  precepts 
mainly  tend  to  break  a  national  spirit  and  courage  by  countenancing 
open  riot,  luxury  and  ignorance,  till,  having  thus  disfigured  and 
made  men  beneath  men,  as  Juno  in  the  fable  of  lo,  they  deliver 
up  the  poor  transformed  heifer  of  the  Commonwealth  to  be  stung 
and  vexed  with  the  breese  [stinging  fly]  and  goad  of  oppression 
under  the  custody  of  some  Argus  with  a  hundred  eyes  of  jealousy. 
To  be  plainer,  Sir,  how  to  solder,  how  to  stop  a  leak,  how  to  keep 
up  the  floating  carcase  of  a  crazy  and  diseased  monarchy  or  state 
betwixt  wind  and  water,  swimming  still  upon  her  own  dead  lees  : 
that  is  now  the  deep  design  of  a  Politician." — Of  Reformation. 

Scripture,  The  Fathers,  and  the  Councils. — "  Let  the  Scriptures 
be  hard  ;  are  they  more  hard,  more  crabbed,  more  abstruse,  than 
the  Fathers?  He  that  cannot  understand  the  sober,  plain,  and 
unaffected  style  of  the  Scriptures  will  be  ten  times  more  puzzled 
with  the  knotty  Africanisms,  the  pampered  metaphors,  the  intricate 
and  involved  sentences,  of  the  Fathers,  besides  the  fantastic  and 
declamatory  flashes,  the  cross-jingling  periods  which  cannot  but 
disturb  and  come  athwart  a  settled  devotion  worse  than  the  din  of 
bells  and  rattles.  .  .  .  Although  I  know  many  of  those  that  pre- 
tend to  be  great  Rabbis  in  these  studies  have  scarce  saluted  them 
from  the  strings  and  the  title-page,  or,  to  give  them  more,  have 
been  but  the  ferrets  and  mousehunts  of  an  index,  yet  what  pastor 
or  minister,  how  learned,  religious,  or  discreet  soever,  does  not 
now  bring  both  his  cheeks  full-blown  with  *  (Ecumenical'  and 
*  Synodical '  shall  be  counted  a  lank,  shallow,  unsufficient  man,  yea 
a  dunce,  and  not  worthy  to  speak  about  Reformation  of  Church 
Discipline.  But  I  trust  they  for  whom  God  hath  reserved  the 
honour  of  reforming  this  Church  will  easily  perceive  their  adver- 
saries' drift  in  thus  calling  for  Antiquity.  They  fear  the  plain  field 
of  the  Scriptures ;  the  chase  is  too  hot ;  they  seek  the  dark,  the 
bushy,  the  tangled  forest ;  they  would  embosk.  They  feel  them- 
selves strook  in  the  transparent  streams  of  divine  truth ;  they 
would  plunge  and  tumble  and  think  to  be  hid  in  the  foul  weeds 
and  muddy  waters  where  no  plummet  can  reach  the  bottom.  But 
let  them  beat  themselves  like  whales,  and  spend  their  oil,  till  they 
be  dredged  ashore."— Ibid. 

The  Relation  of  the  Prelacy  to  the  Crown  and  the  Body-Politic; 
A  Tale. — "  Upon  a  time  the  Body  summoned  all  the  members  to 
meet  in  the  Guild  for  the  common  good  (as  yEsop's  chronicles  aver 


264  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

many  stranger  accidents).  The  Head  by  right  takes  the  first  seat, 
and  next  to  it  a  huge  and  monstrous  Wen,  little  less  than  the  head 
itself,  growing  to  it  by  a  narrower  excrescency.  The  members, 
amazed,  began  to  ask  one  another  what  he  was  that  took  place  next 
their  chief.  None  could  resolve.  Whereat  the  Wen,  though 
unwieldy,  with  much  ado  gets  up,  and  bespeaks  the  assembly  to 
this  purpose  :  that,  as  in  place  he  was  second  to  the  Head,  so  by 
due  of  merit ;  that  he  was  to  it  an  ornament  and  strength,  and  of 
special  near  relation,  and  that,  if  the  Head  should  fail,  none  were 
fitter  than  himself  to  step  into  his  place  :  therefore  he  thought  it 
for  the  honour  of  the  Body  that  such  dignities  and  rich  endow- 
ments should  be  decreed  him  as  did  adorn  and  set  out  the  noblest 
members.  To  this  was  answered  that  it  should  be  consulted. 
There  was  a  wise  and  learned  Philosopher  sent  for,  that  knew 
all  the  charters,  laws,  and  tenures  of  the  Body.  On  him  it  is  im- 
posed by  all  as  chief  committee  to  examine  and  discuss  the  claim 
and  petition  of  right  put  in  by  the  Wen ;  who  soon  perceiving  the 
matter  and  wondering  at  the  boldness  of  such  a  swoln  tumour, 
'  Wilt  thou,'  quoth  he,  '  that  art  but  a  bottle  of  vicious  and 
hardened  excrements,  contend  with  the  lawful  and  free-born  mem- 
bers, whose  certain  number  is  set  by  ancient  and  unrepealable 
statute  1  Head  thou  art  none,  though  thou  receive  this  huge  sub- 
stance from  it.  What  office  bearest  thou  ?  What  good  canst  thou 
show  by  thee  done  to  the  commonweal?'  The  Wen,  not  easily 
abashed,  replies  that  his  office  was  his  glory ;  for,  so  oft  as  the  soul 
would  retire  out  of  the  Head,  from  over  the  steaming  vapours  of 
the  lower  parts,  to  divine  contemplation,  with  him  she  found  the 
purest  and  quietest  retreat,  as  being  most  remote  from  soil  and 
disturbance.  *  Lourdane  ! '  quoth  the  Philosopher,  '  thy  folly  is  as 
great  as  thy  filth.  Know  that  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul  are  con- 
fined of  old  to  their  several  vessels  and  ventricles,  from  which  they 
cannot  part  without  dissolution  of  the  whole  Body ;  and  that  thou 
containest  no  good  thing  in  thee,  but  a  heap  of  hard  and  loath- 
some uncleanness,  and  art  to  the  Head  a  foul  disfigurement  and 
burden,  when  I  have  cut  thee  off  and  opened  thee,  as  by  the  help 
of  these  instruments  I  will  do,  all  men  shall  see.' " — Ibid. 

The  War  with  the  Scots. — "  Nor  shall  the  wisdom,  the  modera- 
tion, the  Christian  piety,  the  constancy  of  our  Nobility  and  Commons 
of  England  be  ever  forgotten,  whose  calm  and  temperate  connivance 
could  sit  still  and  smile  out  the  stormy  bluster  of  men  more 
audacious  and  precipitant  than  of  solid  arid  deep  reach,  till  then  our 
prey  had  run  itself  out  of  breath, — assailing,  by  rash  and  heady 


1641.]  PASSAGES  FROM  THE  PAMPHLETS.  265 

approaches,  the  impregnable  situation  of  our  liberty  and  safety  that 
laughed  such  weak  enginry  to  scorn,  such  poor  drifts  to  make  a 
national  war  of  a  surplice-brabble,  a  tippet-scuffle,  and  engage  the 
unattainted  honour  of  English  Knighthood  to  unfurl  the  streaming 
Red-cross,  or  to  rear  the  horrid  standard  of  those  fatal  guly  Dragons, 
for  so  unworthy  a  purpose  as  to  force  upon  their  fellow-subjects  that 
which  themselves  are  weary  of,  the  skeleton  of  a  mass-book.  Nor 
must  the  patience,  the  fortitude,  the  firm  obedience  of  the  nobles 
and  people  of  Scotland,  striving  against  manifold  provocations,  nor 
must  their  sincere  and  moderate  proceedings  hitherto,  be  unremem- 
bered  to  the  shameful  conviction  of  all  their  detractors." — Ibid. 

The  Petitions  of  the  Universities  in  favour  of  Episcopacy  and 
Cathedral  Establishments. — "Would  you  know  what  the  Remon- 
strance of  these  men  would  have,  what  their  Petition  implies? 
They  entreat  us  that  we  would  not  be  weary  of  those  unsupportable 
grievances  that  our  shoulders  have  hitherto  cracked  under ;  they 
beseech  us  that  we  would  think  them  fit  to  be  our  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  our  Lords,  our  highest  officers  of  State,  though  they  come 
furnished  with  no  more  experience  than  they  have  learnt  between 
the  Cook  and  the  Manciple,  or  more  profoundly  at  the  College 
Audit  or  the  Regent  House,  or,  to  come  to  their  deepest  insight, 
at  their  Patron's  table ;  they  would  request  us  to  endure  still  the 
rustling  of  their  silken  cassocks,  and  that  we  would  burst  our 
midriffs  rather  than  laugh  to  see  them  under  sail  in  all  their  lawn 
and  sarcenet,  their  shrouds  and  tackle,  with  a  geometrical  rhom- 
boides  upon  their  heads  ;  they  would  bear  us  in  hand  that  we  must 
of  duty  still  api>ear  before  them  once  a  year  in  Jerusalem  like  good 
circumcised  males  and  females,  to  be  taxed  by  the  poll,  to  be 
sconced  our  head-money,  our  twopences,  in  their  chandlerly  shop- 
book  of  Easter."— Ibid. 

Nearness  to  the  Apostles  no  Guarantee  against  Stupidity. — "  What 
fidelity  his  [Irenaeus's]  relations  had  in  general  we  cannot  sooner 
learn  than  by  Eusebius;  who,  near  the  end  of  his  Third  Book, 
speaking  of  Papias,  a  very  ancient  writer, — one  that  had  heard  St. 
John,  and  was  known  to  many  that  had  seen  and  been  acquainted 
with  others  of  the  Apostles,  but,  being  of  a  shallow  wit,  and  not 
understanding  those  traditions  which  he  received,  filled  his  writings 
with  many  new  doctrines  and  fabulous  conceits, — he  tells  us  there 
that  divers  ecclesiastical  men,  and  Irenaeus  among  the  rest,  while 
they  looked  at  his  antiquity,  became  infected  with  his  errors.  Now, 
if  Irenseus  were  so  rash  as  to  take  unexamined  opinions  from  an 
author  of  so  small  capacity  when  he  was  a  man,  we  should  be  more 


266  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

rash  ourselves  to  rely  upon  those  observations  which  he  made  when 
he  was  a  boy.  And  this  may  be  a  sufficient  reason  to  us  why  we 
need  no  longer  muse  at  the  spreading  of  many  idle  traditions  so 
soon  after  the  Apostles,  whilst  such  as  this  Papias  had  the  throw- 
ing them  about,  and  the  inconsiderate  zeal  of  the  next  age,  that 
heeded  more  the  person  than  the  doctrine,  had  the  gathering  them 
up.  Wherever  a  man  who  had  been  any  way  conversant  with  the 
Apostles  was  to  be  found,  thither  flew  all  the  inquisitive  ears ;  the 
exercise  of  right  instructing  was  changed  into  the  curiosity  of 
impertinent  fabling ;  where  the  mind  was  to  be  edified  with  solid 
doctrine,  there  the  fancy  was  soothed  with  solemn  stories;  with 
less  fervency  was  studied  what  Saint  Paul  or  Saint  John  had 
written  than  was  listened  to  one  that  could  say  :  '  Here  he  taught, 
here  he  stood,  this  was  his  stature,  and  thus  he  went  habited ;  and 
O  happy  this  house  that  harboured  him,  and  that  cold  stone 
whereon  he  rested,  this  village  where  he  wrought  such  a  miracle, 
and  that  pavement  bedewed  with  the  warm  effusion  of  his  last 
blood,  that  spouted  up  into  eternal  roses  to  crown  his  martyr- 
dom ! '  Thus,  while  all  their  thoughts  were  poured  out  upon 
circumstances,  and  the  gazing  after  such  men  as  had  been  at  table 
with  the  Apostles  (many  of  which  Christ  hath  professed,  yea 
though  they  had  cast  out  devils  in  his  name,  he  will  not  know  at 
the  last  day),  by  this  means  they  lost  their  time,  and  truanted  on 
the  fundamental  grounds  of  saving  knowledge,  as  was  seen  shortly 
by  their  writings." — Of  Prelat.  Episcop. 

The  English  Liturgy  and  Extempore  Prayer.  —  "Edward  the 
Sixth,  as  Hayward  hath  written  in  his  Story  [The  Life  and  Raigne 
of  King  Edward  VI '.,  by  Sir  John  Hayward,  1599],  will  tell  you, 
upon  the  word  of  a  King,  that  the  order  of  the  Service,  and  the 
use  thereof  in  the  English  tongue,  is  no  other  than  the  old  Service 
was,  and  the  same  words  in  English  which  were  in  Latin,  except  a 
few  things  omitted,  so  fond  that  it  had  been  a  shame  to  have  heard 
them  in  English.  These  are  his  words;  whereby  we  are  left 
uncertain  who  the  author  was,  but  certain  that  part  of  the  work 
was  esteemed  so  absurd  by  the  translators  thereof  as  was  to  be 
ashamed  of  in  English.  *  O,  but  the  martyrs  were  the  refiners  of 
it ' ;  for  that  only  is  left  you  to  say.  Admit  they  were ;  they 
could  not  refine  a  scorpion  into  a  fish,  though  they  had  drawn  it 
and  rinsed  it  with  never  so  cleanly  cookery ;  which  made  them  fall 
at  variance  among  themselves  about  the  use  either  of  it  or  the 
ceremonies  belonging  to  it.  ...  As  for  the  words,  it  is  more  to 
be  feared  that  the  same  continually  should  make  them  careless  or 


1641.]  PASSAGES  FROM  THE  PAMPHLETS.  267 

sleepy  than  that  variety  on  the  same  known  subject  should  distract. 
Variety  (as  both  Music  and  Rhetoric  teacheth  us)  erects  and  rouses 
an  auditory,  like  the  masterful  running  over  many  chords  and 
divisions;  whereas,  if  men  should  ever  be  thumbing  the  drone  of 
one  plain-song,  it  would  be  a  dull  opiate  to  the  most  wakeful 
attention.  ...  A  minister  that  cannot  be  trusted  to  pray  in  his 
own  words,  without  being  chewed  to,  and  fescued  [directed  as  if 
by  a  fescue,  or  schoolmaster's  pointer]  to  a  formal  injunction  of 
his  rote-lesson,  should  as  little  be  trusted  to  preach, — besides  the 
vain  babble  of  praying  over  the  same  things  immediately  again ; 
for  there  is  a  large  difference  in  the  repetition  of  some  pathetical 
ejaculation,  raised  out  of  the  sudden  earnestness  and  vigour  of  the 
inflamed  soul  (such  was  that  of  Christ  in  the  Garden),  from  the 
continual  rehearsal  of  our  daily  orisons  ;  which  if  a  man  shall  kneel 
down  in  a  morning  and  say  over,  and  presently  in  another  part 
of  the  room  kneel  down  again  and  in  other  words  ask  but  still  for 
the  lame  things,  as  it  were  out  of  an  inventory,  I  cannot  see  how 
he  will  escape  that  heathenish  battology  of  multiplying  words 
which  Christ  himself,  that  has  the  putting  up  of  our  prayers,  told 
us  would  not  be  agreeable  to  Heaven." — Animadversions. 

Ordination. — "  As  for  Ordination,  what  is  it  but  the  laying  on 
of  hands,  an  outward  sign  or  symbol  of  admission  ?  It  creates 
nothing,  it  confers  nothing.  It  is  the  inward  calling  of  God  that 
makes  a  minister,  and  his  own  painful  study  and  diligence  that 
manures  and  improves  his  ministerial  gifts.  In  the  primitive  times, 
many  before  ever  they  had  received  ordination  from  the  Apostles 
had  done  the  Church  noble  service, — as  Apollos  and  others.  It  is 
but  an  orderly  form  of  receiving  a  man  already  fitted,  and  com- 
mitting to  him  a  particular  charge." — Ibid. 

A  Prayer. — "  O,  if  we  freeze  at  noon  after  their  early  thaw  [of  the 
English  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation],  let  us  fear  that  the  Sun 
for  ever  hide  himself,  and  turn  his  orient  steps  from  our  ungrateful 
horizon,  justly  condemned  to  be  eternally  benighted.  Which 
dreadful  judgment,  O  thou  the  everbegotten  Light,  and  perfect 
Image  of  the  Father,  intercede  may  never  come  upon  us, — as  we 
trust  thou  hast.  For  thou  hast  opened  our  difficult  and  sad  times, 
and  given  us  an  unexpected  breathing  after  our  long  oppressions ; 
thou  hast  done  justice  upon  those  that  tyrannized  over  us,  while 
some  men  wavered,  and  admired  a  vain  shadow  of  wisdom  in  a 
tongue  nothing  slow  to  utter  guile.  .  .  .  Who  is  there  that  cannot 
trace  thee  now  in  thy  beamy  walk  through  the  midst  of  thy  sanct- 
uary, amidst  those  golden  candlesticks  which  have  long  suffered  a 


268  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

dimness  amongst  us  through  the  violence  of  those  that  had  seized 
them  and  were  more  taken  with  the  mention  of  their  gold  than  of 
their  starry  light  1  .  .  .  Come,  therefore,  O  thou  that  hast  the  seven 
stars  in  thy  right  hand ;  appoint  thy  chosen  priests,  according  to 
their  orders  and  courses  of  old,  to  minister  before  thee,  and  duly  to 
dress  and  pour  out  the  consecrated  oil  into  thy  holy  and  ever-burn- 
ing lamps.  Thou  hast  sent  out  the  spirit  of  prayer  upon  thy  servants 
over  all  the  land  to  this  effect,  and  stirred  up  their  vows  as  the 
sound  of  many  waters  about  thy  Throne.  Every  one  can  say  that 
now  certainly  thou  hast  visited  this  land,  and  hast  not  forgotten  the 
utmost  corners  of  the  earth,  in  a  time  when  men  had  thought  that 
thou  wast  gone  up  from  us  to  the  farthest  end  of  the  Heavens,  and 
hadst  left  to  do  marvellously  among  the  sons  of  these  last  ages. 
O,  perfect  and  accomplish  thy  glorious  acts ;  for  men  may  leave 
their  works  unfinished,  but  thou  art  a  God ;  thy  nature  is  perfec- 
tion. Shouldst  thou  bring  us  thus  far  onward  from  Egypt  to 
destroy  us  in  this  wilderness,  though  we  deserve,  yet  thy  great 
name  would  suffer  in  the  rejoicing  of  thine  enemies,  and  the 
deluded  hope  of  all  thy  servants.  When  thou  hast  settled  peace 
in  the  Church,  and  righteous  judgment  in  the  Kingdom,  then  shall 
all  thy  saints  address  their  voices  of  joy  and  triumph  to  Thee, 
standing  on  the  shore  of  that  Red  Sea  into  which  our  enemies  had 
almost  driven  us.  And  he  that  now  for  haste  snatches  up  a  plain 
ungarnished  present  as  a  thank-offering,  to  thee,  which  could  not  be 
deferred  in  regard  of  thy  so  many  late  deliverances  wrought  for  us 
one  upon  another,  may  then  perhaps  take  up  a  harp  and  sing  thee 
an  elaborate  Song  to  Generations.  In  that  day  it  shall  no  more  be 
said  as  in  scorn,  '  This  or  that  was  never  held  so  till  this  present 
age,'  when  men  have  better  learnt  that  the  times  and  seasons  pass 
along  under  thy  feet,  to  go  and  come  at  thy  bidding.  And,  as  Thou 
didst  dignify  our  fathers'  days  with  many  revelations  above  all  the 
foregoing  ages  since  Thou  tookst  the  flesh,  so  Thou  canst  vouchsafe 
to  us  (though  unworthy)  as  large  a  portion  of  thy  Spirit  as  Thou 
pleasest.  For  who  shall  prejudice  thy  all-governing  will,  seeing 
the  power  of  thy  grace  is  not  passed  away  with  the  primitive  times, 
as  fond  and  faithless  men  imagine,  but  thy  kingdom  is  now  at 
hand,  and  thou  standing  at  the  door.  Come  forth  out  of  thy  royal 
chambers,  O  Prince  of  all  the  Kings  of  the  Earth;  put  on  the 
visible  robes  of  thy  Imperial  Majesty;  take  up  that  unlimited 
sceptre  which  thy  Almighty  Father  hath  bequeathed  Thee ;  for  now 
the  voice  of  thy  Bride  calls  thee,  and  all  creatures  sigh  to  be 
renewed." — Ibid. 


CHAPTER   V. 

IMPEACHMENT   OP   THIRTEEN    BISHOPS  —  PREPARATIONS   FOR    A    RECESS 
— SIX     WEEKS    OP     LULL,   AND    VIEW     OF    THE     STATE    OF     PARTIES 

— THE    KING'S  VISIT   TO   SCOTLAND  AND    ITS    INCIDENTS THE    IRISH 

INSURRECTION. 

THE  rejection  by  the  Lords  of  the  Bill  of  the  Commons  for 
the  exclusion  of  Bishops  from  Parliament  was  still  the  great 
topic  of  public  interest  in  England  in  July  1641.  What 
would  the  Commons  do  ? 

IMPEACHMENT   OF  THIRTEEN  BISHOPS. 

The  policy  of  the  Commons  was  peculiar.  Forsaking  for 
the  moment  the  Root-and-Branch  Bill  which  had  been  intro- 
duced by  Deering,  and  allowing  that  Bill  to  hang  in  the 
imagination  of  the  public  as  a  mere  proposition  for  the 
future,  in  contrast  with  Bishop  Williams's  draft  of  a 
Limited  Episcopacy  Bill  proposed  in  the  Lords,  they  turned 
all  their  energy  into  a  course  of  action  for  immediately 
clearing  the  way.  This  consisted  in  the  impeachment  of 
as  many  of  the  existing  Bishops  as  possible  on  personal 
charges.  If  they  had  failed  to  abolish  the  Episcopal  Bench 
in  the  House  of  Lords  by  a  direct  legislative  measure,  they 
had  the  means  at  least  of  thinning  that  Bench  by  putting 
on  trial  a  good  many  of  its  occupants  for  past  offencea 
Again  and  again  had  the  subject  of  the  Convocation  of  1G40 
and  its  illegal  canons  been  discussed  in  Parliament,  by  the 
Lords  as  well  as  by  the  Commons.  Not  only  had  resolutions 
been  passed  as  early  as  December  declaring  the  Canons  void, 


270  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

but  a  Bill  had  been  introduced  into  the  Commons  (April 
1641)  "for  punishing  and  fining  of  the  members  of  the 
late  Convocation  of  the  Provinces  of  Canterbury  and  York." 
According  to  this  Bill,  Laud's  fine  was  to  be  20,000/. ;  the 
other  Bishops  implicated  were  to  pay  fines  of  from  1,000/.  to 
10,0001  each,  according  to  their  degrees  of  culpability  ;  and 
then  there  was  to  be  a  further  exaction  of  fines,  in  such  sums 
as  200/.,  300/.,  and  5001.,  from  the  Deans,  Archdeacons,  and 
Proctors  of  the  Convocation.1  If  the  application  of  this  Bill 
had  been  waived,  it  had  been  conditionally  on  the  good  beha- 
viour of  those  whom  it  threatened  ;  and  now  that,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Commons,  this  good  behaviour,  on  the  part 
of  the  Bishops  at  least,  had  ceased,  a  new  attack  upon  them 
seemed  justifiable.  In  short,  on  the  4th  of  August  there 
was  sent  up  to  the  Lords  a  formal  impeachment  of  thirteen 
of  the  Bishops  collectively, — Wren,  Pierce,  Hall,  Warner, 
Owen  of  St.  Asaph,  Skinner,  Goodman,  Coke,  Eoberts, 
Wright,  Owen  of  Llandaff,  Towers,  and  Curie, — on  account 
of  their  co-operation  with  Laud  in  the  illegal  canons  and 
other  acts  of  the  late  Convocation.2  It  was  prayed  of  the 
Lords  that  the  impeached  Bishops  "  might  be  forthwith  put 
"  to  their  answers  in  the  presence  of  the  Commons,  and  that 
"  such  further  proceedings  might  be  had  against  them  as  to 
"  law  and  justice  should  appertain."  The  intention  was  to 
intimidate  the  Bishops,  so  as  to  induce  them  voluntarily  to 
withdraw  from  the  House.  That  object  gained,  the  impeach- 
ment would  have  been  dropped.  The  Bishops,  however, 
having  resolved  to  stand  to  their  defence,  the  Commons  had 
to  make  up  their  minds  for  a  prolonged  battle.  Accordingly, 
from  the  beginning  of  August  all  the  miscellaneous  activity 
that  had  hitherto  been  rife  against  Episcopacy,  the  Liturgy, 
Deans  and  Chapters,  &c.,  was  transmuted  into  the  form  of 
a  battle  between  the  Commons  and  the  Bishops  personally. 

Hardly  had  the  battle  been  declared  (Aug.  4)  when  an  event 
happened  which  was  to  interrupt  it,  and  to  lead,  moreover,  to 
a  temporary  cessation  of  all  public  business  whatsoever. 

i  Parl.  Hist.  II.  772—3. 

a  Kushworth,  IV.  359,  and  Commons  Journals,  Aug.  4,  1641. 


1641.]  PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  RECESS.  271 

PREPARATIONS    FOR   A    RECESS. 

We  have  seen  that  by  the  end  of  June  the  long  and 
purposely-protracted  proceedings  of  the  Scottish  Treaty  had 
been  so  far  wound  up  that  most  of  the  Scottish  Commis- 
sioners had  gone  home,  and  nothing  remained  to  prevent  the 
final  signature  of  the  Treaty  and  the  disbanding  of  the  two 
armies  but  some  arrangements  of  detail  Now,  exactly  three 
days  after  the  impeachment  of  the  Bishops,  or  on  Saturday 
the  7th  of  August,  the  completed  Treaty  between  the  two 
kingdoms  was  signed.  It  arranged  for  the  payment  of  the 
Scottish  indemnity  and  arrears  in  three  annual  instalments ; 
it  confirmed  the  past  acts  of  the  Scottish  Parliament  and 
guaranteed  its  future  freedom ;  and  it  promised  a  good 
understanding  between  the  two  countries  in  future,  to  be 
shown  by  endeavours  on  both  sides  to  attain  to  a  unity  of 
religion.1  This  Treaty  having  been  signed,  the  clasp  which 
for  near  a  twelvemonth  had  united  the  two  nations  was 
unfastened,  and  the  two  were  to  fall  asunder  with  mutual 
expressions  of  goodwill.  But  what  was  the  surprise  of  the 
English  Parliament  when,  on  the  very  day  of  the  signing 
of  the  Treaty,  the  King,  going  to  the  Lords,  informed  them 
of  his  intention  to  pay  an  immediate  visit  to  Scotland ! 
It  was  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  that  the  King 
would  show  his  regard  for  the  Scots  by  occasionally  visiting 
them,  or  sending  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  reside  among  them  ; 
and  since  May  there  had  been  talk  of  a  royal  visit  to  Scotland 
as  possible  that  year.  Neither  the  Scots  nor  the  English, 
however,  had  made  sure  of  the  matter ;  and  both  were  now 
taken  somewhat  by  surprise.  The  Commons  sat  till  ten 
o'clock  that  night,  so  perplexed  were  they  by  the  news ;  nay, 
they  met  on  the  next  day,  though  it  was  Sunday,  for  further 
business  arising  out  of  the  King's  resolve, — registering  a 
caution,  however,  that  this  Sunday  sitting  should  not  be 
taken  as  a  precedent.  No  persuasion  could  delay  the  King 
even  for  a  fortnight.  The  Scottish  Parliament  and  General 
Assembly  were  both  then  sitting,  and  his  immediate  presence 

»  Rushworth,  IV.  862-375 ;  and  Rapin,  II.  367-8. 


272  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

in  Scotland  was  important  !  In  short,  on  Tuesday  the  10th 
of  August  he  did  set  out  for  Scotland,  accompanied  by  his 
nephew  the  Prince-Elector  Palatine,  the  young  Duke  of 
Lennox  (then  just  created  Duke  of  Eichmond),  and  the 
Marquis  of  Hamilton. 

In  any  circumstances  this  departure  of  the  King  would 
have  had  some  effect  on  the  progress  of  business  in  the 
English  Parliament.  As  it  was,  it  helped  to  bring  on  an 
interruption  which  was  natural  enough  for  other  reasons. 
It  was  now  the  heat  of  summer ;  and  again  the  Plague,  then 
an  annual  dread  in  England,  was  at  work  in  the  lanes  and 
alleys  of  the  metropolis.  In  the  third  week  of  August  there 
were  610  deaths  in  the  city,  of  which  131  were  by  plague 
and  1 1 8  by  smallpox.1  Among  the  recent  victims  to  small- 
pox had  been  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  the  Liberal  leader  in  the 
Lords.  He  had  died  on  the  9th  of  May.  Several  members 
of  the  Commons  had  since  then  died  of  plague,  and  others 
were  in  alarm,  as  living  in  infected  houses.  Moreover,  apart 
from  plague  and  the  unusual  heat  of  the  weather, — "  this  hot 
season,"  as  Milton  calls  it  in  one  of  his  pamphlets, — some 
rest  after  so  long  a  session  was  beginning  to  be  necessary. 
For  nine  months  they  had  been  "  making  thunder  and  light- 
ning," as  Clarendon  expresses  it ;  and,  after  forging  thunder- 
bolts so  long,  even  Titans  needed  a  respite.  The  King's 
departure  coinciding  with  these  independent  reasons  for  a 
vacation,  it  was  found,  after  he  was  gone,  that  the  attendance 
in  the  Peers  dwindled  to  about  twenty  on  the  average,  and 
in  the  Commons  to  about  100.  It  became  unavoidable,  in 
these  circumstances,  to  arrange  for  a  formal  recess.  The 
chief  difficulty  was  in  the  matter  of  the  impeachment  of 
the  thirteen  Bishops.  When  the  Lords  discussed  the 
matter  on  the  llth  of  August,  the  day  after  the  King's 
departure,  the  strong  measure  of  the  Commons  seemed  by 
no  means  to  their  taste  ;  but  on  the  17th,  after  the  Commons 
had  reinforced  their  impeachment  by  fresh  charges,  the  Lords 
acquiesced  so  far  as  to  resolve  that  the  thirteen  must  put  in 

1  Letter  in  S.  P.  0.,  of  one  "Thomas  Wiseman,"  dated  Aug.  26,  1641. 


1641.]  PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  RECESS.  273 

answers,  and  that  while  their  cause  was  pending  they  must 
not  vote  in  the  House,  nor  even  be  present  in  it  on  any 
occasion  when  their  cause  was  in  debate.  Nothing  else  of 
consequence  prevented  a  recess.  On  the  18th  Commissioners 
were  appointed  by  the  two  Houses  to  follow  his  Majesty 
into  Scotland,  so  as  both  to  be  in  attendance  upon  him  and 
to  act  as  honorary  envoys  to  the  Scottish  Parliament.  The 
new  Earl  of  Bedford  (who,  however,  did  not  go)  and  Lord 
Howard  of  Escrick  were  the  Commissioners  from  the  Lords ; 
and  Hampden,  Nathaniel  Fiennes,  Sir  William  Armyn,  and 
Sir  Philip  Stapleton  were  the  Commissioners  from  the  Com- 
mons. On  the  2  Oth  some  formal  orders  were  issued  respecting 
the  disbanding  of  the  English  army  in  the  north,  and  John 
Rushworth,  the  assistant  clerk  of  the  Commons,  was  in- 
structed to  go  to  York,  and  see  them  executed.  On  the  27th 
it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  Recess  of  Parliament 
from  the  8th  of  September  to  the  20th  of  October. 

Even  after  this  agreement,  it  was  with  reluctance  that  the 
Root-and-Branch  members  of  the  Commons  were  induced 
to  separate.  One  of  their  last  acts  was  to  offer  some  solace 
to  the  Puritan  expectations  of  the  country  for  the  postpone- 
ment of  the  complete  measures  of  Church-reformation  which 
had  been  promised.  It  took  the  form  of  certain  orders  of 
the  Commons,  agreed  to  on  the  1st  of  September,  for  the 
regulation  of  public  worship  in  all  parishes,  and  also  in  all 
cathedral  churches,  until  such  time  as  Parliament  should 
have  reassembled.  The  churchwardens  of  every  parish - 
church  or  chapel,  and  the  authorities  of  every  cathedral 
church  or  college-chapel,  were  to  see  to  the  arrangement  of 
the  communion-table  as  it  had  been  before  the  late  inno- 
vations ;  all  crucifixes,  scandalous  pictures,  images  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  tapers,  candlesticks,  and  basins  on  the 
communion-table,  were  to  be  removed ;  bowing  at  the  name 
of  Jesus,  or  in  reverence  at  other  times,  was  to  be  discon- 
tinued ;  sports  and  dancing  on  Sundays  were  to  cease ;  and 
preaching  on  Sunday  afternoons  and  at  other  times  was  to 
be  encouraged.  To  these  Resolutions  the  Root-and-Branch 
men  would  have  added  one  allowing  some  alteration  or  option 

VOL.  ir  T 


274  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

in  the  use  of  the  Liturgy ;  but  they  were  opposed  in  this 
by  Hyde  and  others,  and  outvoted  by  5.5  to  37.  The 
Commons  would  also  have  had  the  Lords  agree  with  them 
in  the  resolutions  they  did  pass.  The  Lords,  however,  declined 
this,  and  even  went  back  upon  a  previous  order  of  theirs, 
"  that  divine  service  should  be  performed  as  appointed  by 
several  Acts  of  Parliament,  and  that  all  that  disturbed  that 
wholesome  order  should  be  severely  punished  according  to 
the  law."  This  was  done  in  a  thin  House,  six  Lords  out  of 
twenty  present  protesting.  Effectively,  however,  the  orders 
of  the  Commons  went  forth  as  the  injunctions  of  Parliament. 
Let  all  men  trust  in  the  "  good  propositions  and  preparations  " 
which  had  been  made,  and  which  should  be  resumed  as  soon 
as  Parliament  reassembled,  and  meanwhile  let  them  "  quietly 
attend  the  Eeformation  intended  without  any  tumultuous 
disturbance."  Such  were  the  parting  words  of  the  Com- 
mons to  their  constituents. 

Actually  it  was  not  till  the  9th  of  September,  or  a  day 
later  than  had  been  intended,  that  the  two  Houses  rose. 
Each  House  left  a  committee  of  its  members  to  meet  every 
Tuesday  and  Saturday,  or  oftener,  for  observation  of  affairs 
during  the  recess.  The  Committee  of  the  Lords  consisted 
of  seventeen,  with  Lord  Keeper  Littleton  as  chairman ;  the 
Committee  of  the  Commons  of  forty-seven,  with  Pym  as 
chairman.  Sanitary  regulations  against  the  Plague  in 
London  had  not  been  neglected.  In  a  series  of  such  regu- 
lations, one  was  that  on  the  door  of  every  infected  house 
there  should  be  a  large  red  cross,  with  the  words  "  The 
Lord  have  mercy  on  us!' l 


SIX  WEEKS  OF  LULL  :    VIEW  OF  THE  STATE  OF  PARTIES. 

The  six  weeks'  Eecess  in  the  autumn  of  1641  (Sept.  9 — 
Oct.  20)  marks  a  distinct  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Long 
Parliament. 

i  Lords  and   Commons  Journals  of       Rushworth,    IV.    361 — 376,  and  385— 
dates  cited  ;  Parl.  Hist.  II.  901—912  ;       387  ;  Baillie,  I.  388  ;  Clar.  I.  231—234. 


Sept.  1641.J  STATE  OF  PARTIES.  275 

Until  that  Recess,  the  Parliament  had  been  borne  on,  as  we 
have  seen,  almost  unanimously  in  many  matters,  in  a  career 
of  action  and  reform.  Evidences,'  however,  were  not  wanting 
that  this  common  original  impulse  had  spent  itself,  and  that, 
while  a  section  of  the  members  of  both  Houses,  but  especially 
of  the  Commons,  were  still  unsatisfied,  many  had  begun  to 
consider  whether  reform  had  not  been  carried  far  enough 
and  the  nation  might  not  rest.  It  had  been  chiefly  in  the 
course  of  the  discussions  of  the  Church  question  that  this 
formation  of  a  Conservative  body  within  the  two  Houses  had 
manifested  itself.  In  the  Lords,  more  conservative  from  the 
first  than  the  Commons,  it  had  become  evident  that,  on  this 
question,  a  large  majority  were  disposed  to  stand  still.  Had 
not  the  Bishops  been  humbled  enough  ?  Had  there  not  been 
a  sufficient  investigation  into  past  ecclesiastical  delinquencies, 
a  sufficient  castigation  of  the  chief  delinquents,  and  a  sufficient 
exhibition  of  the  views  of  the  English  people  and  the  English 
Parliament  as  to  the  proper  constitution  of  the  Church  for 
the  future  ?  Why  not  come  to  a  peace  on  the  basis  of  the 
state  of  things  now  reached  ?  Why  not  retain  Episcopacy 
in  England  on  some  scheme  in  which  Hall,  Williams,  and 
Usher  might  agree,  or  at  least  agree  to  differ  ?  So  thought, 
and  privately  argued,  the  large  majority  of  the  Lords,  their 
feeling  on  this  question  really  expressing  the  mood  they  had 
attained  respecting  all  questions.  In  the  Commons,  too, 
there  was  a  large  body  of  a  similar  way  of  thinking.  It  was 
not  a  majority,  but  it  was  a  body  so  large  as  to  run  the 
majority  very  hard,  and  to  have  hopes  of  becoming  the 
majority.  Virtually,  therefore,  at  the  time  of  the  Recess, 
there  were  the  elements  of  a  powerful  conservative  party  in 
the  Long  Parliament.  They  were  a  conservative  party,  not 
as  desiring  a  restoration  of  the  former  state  of  things,  but  as 
desiring  to  call  a  halt,  and  see  a  pleased  King  and  the  splen- 
dours of  an  established  Court  once  more  in  the  heart  of 
England.  And  what  better  time  could  there  be  for  such  an 
adjustment  ?  The  Scots  were  back  again  in  their  own  land. 
Knxlaml  was  once  more  herself,  freed  alike  from  the  necessary 
evil  of  the  Scottish  army  in  the  North,  and  from  the  presence 


276  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  Scottish  Commissioners  and  preachers  in  London,  import- 
ing their  crank  Presbyterian  notions  into  other  people's 
concerns !  True,  something  had  been  said  in  the  Scottish 
Treaty  about  endeavouring  after  a  "  unity  of  Religion " 
between  the  two  kingdoms !  But  these  were  only  words  of 
course.  Let  England  settle  her  own  affairs,  religious  and 
other,  according  to  her  own  likings  and  traditions  !  Let  this 
sentiment  prevail  in  the  minds  of  Peers,  and  of  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  during  the  Eecess !  Restored 
once  more  to  their  families,  finding  themselves  once  more  in 
their  country -mansions  beside  the  portraits  of  their  ancestors, 
or  walking  once  more  in  autumn-time  in  the  quiet  English 
fields  and  lanes,  and  by  the  old  parish-churches  and  parson- 
ages, ought  they  not  to  cultivate,  after  so  many  months  of 
turmoil,  the  forgotten  mood  of  repose  ?  If  one's  shoes  were 
always  being  mended,  when  could  they  be  worn  ?  So,  to  be 
always  changing  institutions  was  not  the  sole  business  of  life  ; 
when  institutions  had  been  so  far  set  right,  ought  not  men  to 
live  amidst  them  ?  On  the  reassembling  of  Parliament  after 
the  Recess,  therefore,  let  there  be  a  visible  rallying  round  the 
King  on  the  basis  of  facts  already  accomplished ! 

Such,  represented  at  its  best,  was  the  state  of  feeling  that 
had  come  upon  many  of  the  Parliament-men,  and  probably 
upon  a  large  part  of  the  English  people  besides.  But  there 
was  still  the  Party  of  Movement,  consisting  of  what  seemed 
to  be  an  efficient  majority  in  the  Commons,  and  a  minority  of 
some  twenty  or  thirty  among  the  Peers,  backed  by  a  large 
portion  of  the  nation,  and  above  all  by  the  citizens  of 
London.  The  motives  which  influenced  them  were  of  two 
kinds.  In  the  first  place,  they  did  not  think  that  enough 
had  been  accomplished.  They  desired  farther  reforms,  which 
were  yet  withheld.  Above  all,  they  were  bent  on  a  still 
farther  prosecution  of  the  Church  question,  to  the  extirpation, 
or  nearly  so,  of  all  that  had  been  yet  known  as  Episcopacy  in 
England,  and  the  setting  up  of  a  spiritual  apparatus,  if  there 
were  to  be  any  state-apparatus  of  the  kind  at  all,  on  an 
entirely  new  model.  Aspirations  and  theories  on  this  subject 
were  in  possession  of  many  of  the  most  powerful  minds,  in 


Sept.  1641.]  STATE  OF  PARTIES.  277 

and  out  of  Parliament;  and  these  aspirations  and  theories, 
to  a  greater  extent  than  was  perceived  then,  were  the  positive 
force  of  the  Movement  Party.  Cromwell  and  the  younger 
Vane  within  Parliament,  and  Milton  out  of  Parliament,  may 
be  cited  as  representatives  of  this  positive  force  or  enthu- 
siasm. But,  among  the  then  recognised  practical  heads 
of  the  Movement  Party,  it  was  not,  perhaps,  so  much  this 
craving  for  farther  changes  that  was  dominant.  Pym,  for 
example,  the  generalissimo  of  the  party,  its  matchless  Parlia- 
mentary leader,  would  have  been  personally  content,  up  to 
this  moment,  with  a  much  more  moderate  adjustment  of  the 
Episcopacy  question  than  would  have  satisfied  Cromwell,  and 
others  on  the  back  benches  of  the  Commons.  What  influenced 
Pym,  and  many  more,  was  not  so  much  the  desire  for  farther 
changes  as  the  sense  of  the  insecurity  of  what  had  been 
accomplished,  and  the  necessity,  whether  for  the  preservation 
of  that  or  for  the  attainment  of  more,  of  stronger  guarantees 
for  the  safety  and  permanency  of  that  free  agency  of  Parlia- 
ments to  which  all  yet  done  was  owing.  Were  the  relations 
between  the  King  and  Parliament  even  now  in  a  condition  in 
which  England  could  wisely  consent  to  leave  them  ?  Even  if 
the  controversy  were  with  the  best  and  most  conscientious  King 
that  ever  lived,  and  surrounded  with  the  most  trustworthy 
counsellors,  would  not  guarantees  be  desirable  that  did  not 

yet  exist  ?    And,  as  things  were !    Here  the  feeling  was 

not  the  less  strong  because  it  could  not  publicly  be  spoken. 
The  character  of  Charles  was  well  known.  It  was  known 
that  whatever  he  had  yielded  he  had  yielded  reluctantly, 
and  with  a  reservation  that  he  might  take  it  back  when  the 
pressure  was  removed.  Clarendon  himself  has  acknowledged 
that  this  principle  actuated  Charles,  and  was  the  secret  of  the 
ease  with  which  again  and  again  he  had  seemed  to  reconcile 
himself  to  inevitable  concessions.  But,  long  before  Clarendon 
had  written  of  Charles  and  his  actions,  two  kingdoms  had  found 
out,  accurately  enough,  the  man  they  had  to  deal  with.  "  Our 
sweet  Prince  "  the  Scots  called  him,  and  had  brought  cannon 
to  bear  upon  the  sweetness.  "  Our  august  Sovereign  "  the 
English  continued  to  style  him,  while  the  greater  part  of 


278  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

them  did  not  believe  one  word  he  said.  It  was  this  distrust 
of  Charles,  in  respect  of  what  had  already  been  wrung  from 
him,  quite  as  much  as  any  passion  for  fresh  reforms,  that 
kept  together  that  English  Party  of  Progress  which  Pym 
led.  The  liberties  of  England  were  not  yet  secure.  At  any 
time,  on  the  occurrence  of  any  conjunction  of  circumstances 
favourable  to  a  reaction,  all  that  had  been  done  might  be 
undone.  The  concessions  made  by  the  King  might  be  re- 
voked ;  the  reforms  enacted  by  Parliament  might  be  annulled  ; 
the  popular  leaders  in  Parliament  might  be  imprisoned  or 
brought  to  the  scaffold ;  the  scattered  harpies  of  the  recent 
system  of  things  might  return  to  their  prey ;  the  country 
might  find  itself  again  under  a  reign  of  revengeful  Thorough. 
Was  the  Kecess  of  Parliament  in  these  circumstances  to  be 
regarded  as  merely  a  holiday  after  finished  work,  a  time  for 
cultivating  the  mood  of  repose  ?  Ought  it  not  rather  to  be  a 
time  of  refreshment  for  work  yet  to  be  done,  of  recovery  from 
natural  lassitude  and  fatigue  ?  When  members  of  Parlia- 
ment returned  to  town  from  their  country-houses,  and  estates, 
and  constituencies,  ought  they  not  to  come,  like  the  giants  of 
old,  reheartened  for  a  continued  conflict  by  fresh  virtue  from 
their  mother  Earth  ? 

Not  half  so  well  do  we  know  all  this  now  as  Charles 
knew  it  then.  He  had  been  calculating  on  the  arrival  of 
such  a  time,  and  now  it  had  arrived.  Should  he  be  able 
to  manage  the  opportunity  ?  This  depended,  above  all,  on 
the  men  who  were  in  his  councils,  or  whom  he  might  now 
be  able  to  bring  into  his  councils. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  Long  Parliament,  when  Strafford, 
Laud,  Cottington,  Secretary  Windebank,  and  Lord  Keeper 
Finch  had  been  removed  from  his  side,  Charles  had  been 
strangely  circumstanced  in  the  matter  of  counsellors.  There 
had  remained  nominally  about  him  others  of  his  older 
ministers,  such  as  Hamilton,  Manchester,  Arundel,  Salisbury, 
Pembroke,  Dorset,  Holland,  Berkshire,  and  Newburgh,  among 
the  Peers,  and  the  elder  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  Sir  Thomas 
Jermyn  among  the  Commons.  To  these  had  been  added,  in 


Sept  1641.]  STATE  OF  PARTIES.  279 

more  recent  times,  but  still  before  the  meeting  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, such  new  counsellors  as  the  young  Duke  of  Richmond, 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  the  Earl  of  Newcastle,  the 
Earl  of  Lanark,  and  Lord  Goring.  It  was  with  this  nominal 
Ministry,  consisting  partly  of  the  wreck  of  his  old  Privy 
Council  and  partly  of  Privy  Councillors  more  recently 
appointed,  that  Charles  faced  the  difficulties  of  his  first 
encounter  with  the  Parliament.  Even  then  some  of  this 
body,  such  as  Northumberland,  Salisbury,  Pembroke,  Hol- 
land, and  Sir  Henry  Vane,  if  not  also  Hamilton,  had  become 
Parliamentarian  in  their  sympathies,  notwithstanding  their 
antecedents  to  the  contrary.  But  the  necessity  of  the  time, 
the  unanimity  of  the  Parliament  from  the  first  in  favour  of 
a  policy  that  should  completely  undo  that  of  "  Thorough," 
had  forced  on  Charles  the  addition  to  his  Council  or  Ministry 
of  men  wholly  unconnected  with  his  past  Government,  and 
representing  avowedly  the  new  mood  of  England.  Thus, 
almost  on  the  same  day  in  the  winter  of  1640-1,  there  had 
been  sworn  in  as  members  of  the  Privy  Council  the  following 
eight  noblemen,  all  then  popular  leaders  in  the  Lords, — the 
Earl  of  Bedford,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  the 
Earl  of  Hertford,  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  Viscount  Saye  and 
Sele,  Lord  Savile,  and  Lord  Kimbolton.  Moreover,  when, 
to  fill  the  place  vacated  by  Lord  Keeper  Finch,  Sir  Edward 
Littleton,  member  for  Staffordshire,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  was  raised  to  the  woolsack  as  Baron 
Littleton  (Dec.  1640),  and  when  Attorney-General  Sir  John 
Banks  succeeded  Littleton  as  Chief  Justice,  and  his  place  as 
Attorney-General  was  conferred  on  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  till 
then  Solicitor-General,  the  person  chosen  for  the  Solicitor- 
Generalship  (Jan.  1640-1)  was  no  less  determined  a  Puritan 
than  Cromwell's  gloomy-faced  relative,  the  lawyer  Oliver  St. 
John.  To  the  list  of  persons  so  enumerated  as,  in  the  first 
few  months  of  the  Long  Parliament,  surrounding  the  King  as 
Privy  Councillors,  or  in  official  capacities  which  enabled  him 
to  avail  himself  of  their  advice,  may  be  added  Mr.  Edward 
Nicholas,  member  for  Newton,  Hants,  who  had  been  Clerk 
to  the  Privy  Council  under  Secretary  Windebank,  and  who, 


280  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

since  Windebank's  flight,  had  performed  many  of  the  routine 
duties  of  the  Secretary's  office.1 

A  motley  Ministry  this  to  be  surrounding  the  King,  ranging 
as  it  did  from  such  men  of  the  old  stamp  as  Arundel  and 
Dorset,  who  had  sat  in  the  Council  with  Laud  and  StrafTord 
and  often  abetted  them,  to  such  men  of  the  new  extreme  as 
Lords  Saye  and  Sele  and  Kimbolton  and  the  lawyer  St.  John. 
In  virtue  of  its  composition,  one  might  describe  it,  in  modern 
language,  as  a  Coalition  Ministry ;  but,  in  fact,  it  was  no 
efficient  ministry  at  all  in  the  sense  of  that  or  any  other 
now  familiar  designation.  The  real  motive  power  lay  in  the 
Parliament,  and  the  real  tug  against  that  motive  power  lay 
in  the  King's  own  mind  ;  and  the  nominal  Privy  Council  and 
Ministry  were  but  a  casual  collection  of  persons,  meeting  the 
King  occasionally  and  performing  routine  duties  round  him, 
but  distracted  in  opposite  directions  and  incapable  of  any 
united  policy.  Only  in  one  way  could  they  have  been  con- 
verted into  a  bond  fide,  Government ;  and  that  was  by  the 
King's  frank  acceptance  of  the  new  conditions  in  which  he 
found  himself,  his  desisting  from  his  tug  against  Parliament 
and  consenting  to  go  along  with  it,  and  his  proclamation  of 
the  same  to  the  country  by  giving  public  ascendency  to 
the  popular  or  Parliamentary  element  in  his  Council,  and 
inducing  the  old  leaven  in  it  either  to  accept  the  new 
policy,  or  to  withdraw  and  become  inactive.  This,  which 
would  have  brought  the  Government  into  visible  accord  with 
Parliament,  would  not  have  been  difficult.  The  stiffest  of  the 
old  Councillors  had  certainly  no  such  rooted  opinion  of  their 
own  in  favour  of  despotic  ways  as  would  have  led  them  to 
stand  out  for  the  system  of  Strafford  and  Laud  after  the  King 
himself  had  given  it  up.  For  a  time,  accordingly  (it  was 
while  Strafford's  fate  was  undecided  and  there  seemed  a 
chance  of  saving  him),  the  King  had  actually  been  inclined 
to  some  such  experiment.  A  kind  of  recast  of  the  Ministry 
was  then  in  contemplation.  It  was  proposed  that  Bedford 

i  My    authority    for    facts    in    this  cillors  and  Ministers)  is  partly  Claren- 

paragraph  (which,  however,  the  reader  don,  Hist.  pp.  78 — 80,  pp.  84,  85,  and 

ought  to  connect  retrospectively  with  partly     Minutes     of    attendances    at 

our  previous  lists  of  Charles's   Coun-  Council  Meetings  in  S.  P.  0. 


Sept.  1641.]  STATE  OF  PARTIES.  281 

should  have  the  High  Treasurership,  resigned  by  Bishop 
Juxon,  and,  with  it,  what  we  should  now  call  the  Premier- 
ship ;  Essex,  Northumberland,  Saye  and  Sele,  and  other 
popular  Peers,  were  to  have  important  offices  round  Bedford  ; 
Pym  was  to  be  brought  in  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ; 
Denzil  Holies  was  to  be  joint  Secretary  of  State  with  the 
elder  Vane,  in  Windebauk's  place ;  and  some  suitable  post 
was  to  be  found  for  Hampden.  The  unexpected  death  of 
Bedford,  however  (May  9, 1641),  having  taken  all  plausibility 
out  of  this  scheme  so  far  as  the  King's  purpose  in  it  was  to 
save  StrafFord's  life,  and  the  execution  of  Straffbrd  having 
taken  away  perhaps  the  only  motive  that  would  have  recon- 
ciled the  King  to  a  Ministry  containing  Pym  and  Hampden, 
the  project  of  a  real  Ministry  headed  by  the  Parliamentary 
leaders  of  both  Houses  was  never  carried  out.  Certain  mild 
ministerial  changes  were  indeed  effected  in  May  1641,  im- 
mediately after  Stratford's  death.  Juxon  having  resigned  the 
High  Treasurership,  that  great  office  was  not  conferred  on  any 
one  peer,  but  was  vested  in  a  Commission  of  five,  consisting 
of  Lord  Keeper  Littleton,  Lord  Privy  Seal  Manchester,  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Banks,  Lord  Newburgh,  and  Secretary  Vane. 
Essex  about  the  same  time  was  made  Lord  Chamberlain 
instead  of  Pembroke,  who  had  become  disagreeable  to  the 
King ;  and  the  Mastership  of  the  Wards,  resigned  by  Cot- 
tington,  was  conferred  on  Saye  and  Sele.  Two  other  pro- 
motions, in  the  same  month  of  May  1641,  deserve  even 
more  particular  notice.  The  loyal  Earl  of  Newcastle  having 
obtained  the  King's  reluctant  consent  to  his  resignation  of 
the  post  of  Governor  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Earl  of 
Hertford  was  appointed  his  successor  in  that  post,  and  was 
at  the  same  time  created  a  Marquis ;  and,  as  a  fit  successor 
to  Straffbrd  in  the  Lord-Lieutenancy  of  Ireland,  there  was 
brought  over  from  France,  where  he  had  long  been  Ambas- 
sador, the  experienced  and  not  unpopular  Earl  of  Leicester. 

These  changes,  all  dating  from  May  1641,  somewhat  modi- 
fied the  constitution  of  Charles's  nominal  Ministry,  but  did 
not  essentially  alter  its  character.  From  May,  onwards 
through  June  and  July,  and  into  August,  Charles  had  had 


282  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

to  persevere  very  much  as  he  had  done  in  the  earlier  months 
of  the  Parliament  after  Laud  and  Strafford  had  been  struck 
from  his  side, — surrounded,  that  is,  by  a  motley  body  of 
councillors  and  ministers,  composed  partly  of  men  in  sym- 
pathy with  Parliament  and  pledged  to  its  proceedings,  partly 
of  men  overawed  by  Parliament  and  by  the  ruin  of  the  late 
chiefs  of  "  Thorough  "  on  evidence  supplied  by  their  fellow- 
councillors,  and  consequently,  even  if  they  were  disposed  to 
aid  Charles  in  a  conservative  policy,  not  daring  to  ventilate 
any  such  policy  openly  at  the  Council-board.  In  these 
circumstances,  Charles  had  to  retain  his  policy  mainly  in  his 
own  breast.  He  became  his  own  chief  man  of  business, 
with  his  clever  and  intriguing  Queen,  whose  great  influence 
over  him  had  long  been  matter  of  complaint,  as  his  chief 
woman  of  business.  Whoever,  indeed,  would  conceive  at  its 
very  centre  the  policy  that  began,  in  May — Aug.  1641,  to  be 
opposed  to  that  of  the  Parliament,  and  that  led  to  so  much 
that  followed,  must  imagine  not  a  regular  Council-board  at 
which  the  King  sat  with  any  number  of  Ministers  around 
him,  but  the  King  and  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  in  privacy 
talking  over  affairs.  Both  were  of  one  mind  as  to  the  utter 
detestability  of  Parliament  and  the  necessity  of  thwarting 
it  by  any  means,  or  of  yielding  to  it  only  in  order  to  get  the 
better  of  it  sooner  or  later ;  but  the  one  nursed  his  dislike 
and  anger  with  a  pompous,  sombre  tenacity  of  dignity,  and 
the  other  uttered  it  more  flashingly,  in  French  or  broken 
English,  with  more  of  quick  suggestion  of  ways  and  means, 
and  sometimes  with  a  flout  at  her  lord's  weakness. 

The  differences  in  Parliament  on  the  Church  question,  and 
the  evident  formation  in  both  Houses  (June — Aug.  1641)  of 
a  party  that  would  make  a  stand  for  a  conservative  policy  on 
that  question,  had,  we  repeat,  opened  up  a  new  prospect  for 
Charles  and  Henrietta  Maria.  Here  at  last  was  the  lever  by 
which  they  might  work  for  all  their  ends !  How  they  were 
to  work  it  was  obvious.  Those  declared  Conservatives  on  the 
Church  question  in  the  two  Houses  were  to  be  looked  out 
and  counted  up,  and,  whatever  they  had  been  or  done  on 
other  questions,  such  as  Stafford's  trial,  were  to  be  regarded 


Sept.  1641.]  STATE  OP  PARTIES.  283 

as  now  the  King's  men,  or  convertible  into  the  King's  men ; 
and  from  among  their  chiefs  were  to  be  selected  a  kind  of 
secret  or  unaccredited  Cabinet,  distinct  from  the  nominal 
Council  and  Ministry,  though  including  the  picked  men  of 
that  body.  (1)  Within  the  nominal  Council  and  Ministry 
there  were  men  on  whom  the  King  might  rely  on  grounds 
more  personal  and  peculiar  than  any  supplied  by  the  Church 
question,  and  others  whom  the  Church  question  had  made 
decidedly  or  presumably  his.  Foremost  in  the  former  class 
was,  undoubtedly,  the  King's  kinsman,  the  young  Duke  of 
Richmond  and  Lennox,  whose  chivalrous  personal  fidelity 
gave  him  now  that  place  in  the  King's  intimacy  which  had 
formerly  been  held  by  Hamilton.  In  the  same  class  of  King's 
men  requiring  no  inspiration  from  the  Church  question  were 
Arundel,  Dorset,  Newburgh,  Newcastle,  Goring,  and  Jermyn, 
and  perhaps  others.  By  the  month  of  August,  however,  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  the  Church  question  or  other  occasions 
had  made  the  King  sure  also  of  the  following  persons, — some 
of  whom  had  not  special  obligations  to  him  of  very  long 
duration,  and  had  even  Parliamentarian  associations :  the 
Marquis  of  Hertford,  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  Lord  Keeper  Little- 
ton, Chief  Justice  Banks,  Attorney-General  Herbert,  and  the 
industrious  Clerk  of  the  Council,  Mr.  Edward  Nicholas. 
(2)  With  one  or  two  exceptions,  however,  the  men  named  were 
not  men  of  the  exact  type  that  the  King  at  the  moment 
wanted.  They  were  mostly  grave  and  considerate  persons, 
who,  though  any  secret  of  the  King's  would  have  been  safe 
with  them,  would  have  reasoned  with  him  against  any  stroke 
of  polipy  which  they  thought  unwise  or  dangerous.  They 
were  Conservatives  rather  than  Counter- Revolutionists ;  and 
what  the  King  wanted  was  a  Counter-Revolutionist,  or  a 
few  such,  who  would  undertake  the  management  of  the 
Conservatism  that  had  declared  itself,  and  convert  it,  even 
by  violence,  into  a  Counter- Revolution.  The  young  Duke  of 
Ki'-hmond,  I  fancy,  was  the  readiest  for  such  an  enterprise 
of  all  the  Councillors  named;  but  Charles  had  found  a 
still  readier  agent  for  it  out  of  the  Council  This  was 
the  young,  handsome,  and  brilliant  Lord  Digby,  eldest  son 


284  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  the  Earl  of  Bristol.  We  have  seen  with  what  hopes 
this  young  orator  had  entered  the  Commons  as  member 
for  Dorsetshire,  how  he  had  been  regarded  as  a  likely 
leader  of  the  popular  party,  how  he  had  joined  in  the 
attack  against  Episcopacy  but  still  had  argued  against 
its  complete  extinction,  and  how,  finally,  he  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  heading  that  minority  of  fifty-nine 
who,  though  condemning  Strafford  and  consenting  to  his 
punishment,  voted  for  a  punishment  short  of  death.  Erom 
that  moment  the  King  could  not  fail  to  have  his  eyes  on 
Digby ;  and,  when  Digby,  less  comfortable  in  the  Commons 
since  his  speech  and  vote  for  Strafford's  life,  went  secretly 
to  the  King  and  offered  his  services,  they  were  graciously 
accepted.  On  the  9th  of  June  1641,  he  was  raised  to  the 
Upper  House,  still  as  Lord  Digby,  but  with  a  peerage  in  that 
name.  From  that  moment  the  King  and  the  Queen  had  an 
agent  on  whom  they  might  depend,  and  whose  devices  in 
their  behalf  were  less  likely  to  err  by  defect  and  slowness 
than  by  excess  and  rashness.1 

The  young  Duke  of  Eichmond  and  young  Lord  Digby,  I 
should  say,  were,  in  August  1641,  the  two  persons  who,  of 
all  those  of  mark  about  Charles  in  London,  were  most 
in  the  secret  of  his  counsels,  and  the  readiest  to  go  all 
lengths.  Conceive  these  two  persons,  with  others  about  the 
Household,  such  as  Mr.  Henry  Percy,  brother  of  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  and  member  for  that  county,  and  add  such 
"  Army -men,"  also  members  of  Parliament,  as  Colonel  Wilmot, 
Colonel  Ashburnham,  Colonel  Pollard,  and  Colonel  George 
Goring  (most  of  them  concerned  in  the  Army-Plot,  of  the 
preceding  May  for  Strafford's  release,  but  now  again  free 
from  that  scrape) ;  and  you  will  have  in  your  fancy  what  I 
will  call  the  English  group  of  absolute  Counter-Eevolu- 
tionists,  as  distinct  from  the  general  body  of  English  Con- 
servatives. Now,  Charles's  real  policy  being  the  conversion 
of  the  aggregate  English  Conservatism  of  all  kinds  into  clear 
reaction  or  Counter-Eevolution,  these,  at  the  time  of  his 
journey  to  Scotland,  were  his  most  trusted  secret  function- 

i  Clarendon  93  and  137,  138  (Hist.)  and  938  et  seq.  (Life). 


Sept.  1641.]  STATE  OF  PARTIES.  285 

aries  left  behind  in  England  But  (and  here  I  must  use 
italics)  at  the  other  end  of  tlie  island  there  was  already  a 
Scottish  group  of  similar  persons,  and  tlwse  two  groups  of 
Counter -Revolutionists,  the  English  and  the  Scottish,  were 
already  in  connexion.  What  if  Charles's  visit  to  Scotland 
had  its  secret  motive  in  that  connexion  ? 

Whatever  may  have  been  Charles's  precise  hopes  from  his 
Scottish  journey,  his  behaviour  in  London  on  the  eve  of  that 
journey  did  not  reveal  those  hopes,  but  only  a  natural  desire 
to  establish  a  good  understanding,  before  he  went,  with  such 
of  the  new  Parliamentary  Conservatives  as  were  most  likely 

to  be  useful  during  his  absence  and  after  his  return. There 

was  one  man  in  the  Upper  House,  for  example,  with  whom 
it  was  necessary  that  the  King  should  now  be  on  good 
terms.  This  was  Williams.  Almost  the  only  Bishop  in  the 
House  who  had  latitude  given  him  by  both  parties,  Williams, 
who  could  never  be  a  nobody,  had  made  the  Church  ques- 
tion in  the  Lords  his  own.  His  draft  of  a  Limited  Epi- 
scopacy scheme,  which,  while  it  would  retain  the  Bishops 
in  Parliament,  should  alter  the  entire  status  and  powers  of 
their  office,  and  popularize  the  whole  constitution  of  the 
Church,  must,  in  itself,  have  been  wormwood  to  Charles ;  but 
then,  as  compared  with  the  Root-and- Branch  Bill  in  the 
Commons,  which  it  was  meant  to  counteract,  it  was  an  inter- 
position for  good.  In  the  existing  temper  of  the  two  Houses, 
or  perhaps  of  the  Lords  themselves,  if  a  Root-and-Branch 
Bill  were  to  be  avoided,  it  could  only  be  by  a  compromise 
like  that  of  Williams.  Williams,  therefore,  was  a  man  whom 
it  might  be  well  to  humour, — the  rather  because  that  Bill  of 
Impeachment  which  the  Commons  had  sent  up  to  the  Lords 
(Aug.  4)  against  thirteen  of  the  Bishops  personally,  for  their 
share  in  the  illegal  Canons  of  1640,  threatened  to  leave  no 
prelates  in  the  House  save  Williams  and  one  or  two  more. 
Accordingly,  there  is  proof  that,  before  the  King  went  to 
Scotland,  he  had  given  a  gleam  of  his  countenance  again  to 
ili.-  I  iishop  of  Lincoln.—  —If  it  was  doubtful  whether  Bishop 
Williams  could  do  the  King's  cause  any  good,  there  was  no 
doubt  that  the  man  in  the  Commons  on  whom  at  the  same 


286  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

time  the  King  fixed  his  eyes  was  one  pre-eminently  fit.  Mr. 
Edward  Hyde,  one  of  the  members  for  Saltash,  must  have 
been  known  to  the  King  by  name  from  the  very  beginning 
of  the  Parliament.  He  had  not  been  known  favourably  at 
first ;  for  who  had  been  more  zealous  against  abuses  in  Church 
and  State,  or  more  resolute  in  the  prosecution  of  Strafford  ? 
Digby,  however,  who  knew  Hyde  intimately,  had  told  the 
King  more  about  him,  and  Hyde's  own  opposition  to  the 
prevalent  feeling  in  the  House  on  the  Church  question  had 
done  the  rest.  When  Deering's  unexpected  Root-and-Branch 
Bill  had  passed  the  second  reading  and  been  referred  to  a 
committee  of  the  whole  House  (June  and  July  1641),  Hyde, 
as  a  Chairman  of  Committee,  had  done  more  to  obstruct  the 
business  than  could  have  been  supposed  possible.  He  dwells 
with  especial  satisfaction  on  this  in  his  History,1  because  the 
recollection  was  connected  in  his  mind  with  what  followed. 
This  he  must  tell  in  his  own  words :  "  While  things  were 
"  thus  depending,"  he  says,  "  one  morning  when  there  was  a 
"  conference  with  the  Lords,  and  so  the  House  adjourned,  Mr. 
"  Hyde  being  walking  in  the  House,  Mr.  Peircy,  brother  to 
"  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  being  a  member  of  the  House, 
"  came  to  him,  and  told  him  that  the  King  would  speak  with 
"  him  and  would  have  him  that  afternoon  to  come  to  him. 
"  He  answered  he  believed  it  was  some  mistake,  for  that  he 
"  had  not  the  honour  to  be  known  to  the  King,  and  that 
"  there  was  another  of  the  same  name  of  the  House  [Mr. 
"  Serjeant  Hyde,  member  for  Salisbury].  Mr.  Peircy  assured 
"  him  he  was  the  man ;  and  so  it  was  agreed  that  at  such 
"  an  hour  in  the  evening  he  should  call  on  him  at  his 
"  chamber ;  which  he  did,  and  was  by  him  conducted  into 
"  the  gallery,  and  so  into  the  square  room,  where  he  stayed 
"  till  the  other  went  to  the  King ;  who  in  a  very  short  time 
"  came  thither,  attended  only  by  Mr.  Peircy,  who,  as  soon  as 
"  Mr.  Hyde  had  kissed  his  Majesty's  hand,  withdrew.  The 
"  King  told  him  '  that  he  heard  from  all  hands  how  much 
"  '  he  was  beholden  to  him ;  and  that,  when  all  his  servants 
"  '  in  the  House  of  Commons  either  neglected  his  service  or 

i  Clarendon,  Hist.  p.  110. 


1641.]  THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  287 

"  '  could  not  appear  usefully  in  it,  he  took  all  occasions  to 
"  '  do  him  service ;  for  which  he  thought  fit  to  give  him  his 
"  '  own  thanks,  and  to  assure  him  that  he  would  remember 
"  '  it  to  his  advantage.'  He  took  notice  of  his  affection  to 
•'  the  Church,  for  which,  he  said, '  he  thanked  him  more  than 
"  for  all. the  rest ';  which  the  other  acknowledged  with  the 
"  duty  that  became  him,  and  said,  '  he  was  very  happy  that 
"  '  his  Majesty  was  pleased  with  what  he  did  ;  but,  if  he 
"  '  had  commanded  him  to  have  withdrawn  his  affection  and 
"  '  reverence  for  the  Church,  he  would  not  have  obeyed  him ' ; 
"  which  his  Majesty  said  made  him  love  him  the  better. 
"  Then  he  discoursed  of  the  passion  of  the  House,  and  of  the 
"  P.ill  then  brought  in  against  Episcopacy;  and  asked  him 
"  '  whether  he  thought  they  would  be  able  to  carry  it  ? '  to 
"  which  he  answered,  he  '  believed  they  could  not,  at  least 
"  '  that  it  would  be  very  long  first.'  '  Nay,'  replied  the  King ; 
"  '  if  you  will  look  to  it  that  they  do  not  carry  it  before  I  go 
"  '  for  Scotland,  which  will  be  at  such  a  time,  when  the 
"  '  armies  shall  be  disbanded,  I  will  undertake  for  the  Church 
"  '  after  that  time.'  '  Why,  then,'  said  the  other, '  by  the  grace 
"  '  of  God,  it  will  not  be  in  much  danger ' ;  with  which  the 
"  King  was  well  pleased,  and  dismissed  him  with  very  gra- 
"  cious  expressions.  And  this  was  the  first  introduction 
"  of  him  to  the  King's  taking  notice  of  him." l 

THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND  :    ITS  INCIDENTS. 

A  regular  meeting  annually  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Kirk  was  one  of  the  most  prized  of  the  benefits  which 
the  Scots  had  won  by  their  revolution.  When  Charles 
announced  his  intention  of  leaving  London,  such  a  General 
Assembly  (the  fourth  in  the  series  of  which  the  great  one  in 
Glasgow  had  been  the  first)  was  sitting  in  Edinburgh,  whither 
it  had  been  removed  from  St.  Andrews.  The  Commissioner 
of  the  King  in  this  Assembly  was  the  Earl  of  Weinyss ;  the 
Moderator  was  Alexander  Henderson.  He  had  not  been 
chosen  without  a  protest  by  some  against  his  election  a 

i  Clarendon,  p.  987  (Life). 


288  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

second  time  to  the  presidency,  at  a  season  when  the  doctrine 
of  Presbyterian  parity  was  so  important. 

Henderson,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  was  fresh  from  his 
seven  months  of  residence  in  London  in  company  with 
Baillie  and  others.  The  influence  of  this  fact  was  apparent 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Assembly  over  which  he  presided. 
One  proposition  of  Henderson's,  for  example,  was  that  steps 
should  be  taken  for  bringing  back  to  Scotland,  and  providing 
with  a  situation  suitable  to  his  deserts,  "  Mr.  Thomas  Young 
the  author  of  Dies  Dominica,  and  of  the  Smectymnuus  for  the 
most  part."  This  proposition  was  not  to  take  effect,  and 
Milton's  old  tutor  was  to  remain  in  England.  By  far  the 
most  important  part  of  the  Assembly's  proceedings,  however, 
grew  out  of  a  letter  which  Henderson  had  brought  with  him 
from  England,  addressed  to  the  Assembly  by  "a  number 
of  their  gracious  brethren  of  the  ministry  at  London  and 
about  it,"  including,  of  course,  Young  and  the  other  Smec- 
tymnuans.  While  congratulating  the  Scottish  clergy  on 
their  "  happy  proceedings  "  hitherto,  and  expressing  a  hope 
that  the  Scottish  Church  Discipline  would  soon  be  established 
in  England,  the  letter  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Assembly 
a  very  important  difference  of  opinion  which  had  begun  to 
manifest  itself  among  the  English  Eoot-and-Branch  men  on 
this  very  subject.  "Almighty  God  having  now,  of  his 
"  infinite  goodness,"  said  the  letter,  "  raised  our  hopes  of 
"  removing  this  yoke  of  Episcopacy  under  which  we  have  so 
"  long  groaned,  sundry  other  forms  of  Church-government  are 
"  by  sundry  sorts  of  men  projected  to  be  set  up  in  the  room 
"  thereof:  one  of  which,  among  others,  is  of  some  brethren 
"  that  hold  the  whole  power  of  Church-government,  and  all 
"  acts  thereunto  appertaining,  as  election,  ordination,  and 
"  deposition  of  officers,  with  admission,  excommunication,  and 
"  absolution  of  members,  are  by  Divine  ordinance,  in  foro 
"  externo,  to  be  decreed  by  the  most  voices  in  and  of  every  par- 
"  ticular  congregation  ;  which,  say  they,  is  the  utmost  bound 
"  of  a  particular  church  endued  with  the  power  of  govern- 
"  ment,  and  only  some  formalities  of  solemn  execution  to  be 
"  reserved  to  the  officers  as  the  servants  of  the  said  church, 


1641.]  THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  289 

"  if  they  have  any,  and,  if  none,  then  to  be  perform.  .1 
"  by  some  other  members,  not  in  office,  whom  the  church 
"  shall  appoint  thereunto  ;  and  that  every  of  the  said  par- 
"  ticular  congregations,  whether  they  consist  of  few  or 
"  many  members  and  be  furnished  with  officers  or  not,  law- 
"  fully  may  and  ought  to  transact,  determine  and  execute, 
"  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  government  of  themselves 
"  amongst  and  within  themselves,  without  any  authorita- 
"  tive  (though  not  consultatory)  concurrence  or  interposition 
"  of  any  other  persons  or  churches  whatsoever ;  condemning 
"  all  imperative  and  decisive  power  of  Classes,  or  com- 
"  pound  Presbyteries  and  Synods,  as  a  mere  usurpation." 
Now,  as  the  Churches  of  England  and  Scotland  seemed  to  be 
"embarked  in  the  same  bottom,  to  sink  and  swim  together," 
the  English  writers  of  the  letter  were  anxious  to  have  the 
best  advice  of  the  venerable  Assembly  of  their  Scottish 
brethren  on  this  very  point.  They  desired  this  the  rather 
because  it  was  asserted  that  the  same  views  of  Congrega- 
tionalism or  Independency  had  broken  out  among  the  Scots, 
and  that  even  some  eminent  ministers  of  the  Kirk  were 
inclined  to  them.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  English 
ministers  here  pointed  to  certain  discussions  which  had  been 
going  on  in  Scotland  as  to  "  the  lilxjrty  of  prophesying,"  or 
the  right  of  the  unordained  laity  to  associate  themselves  and 
meet  together  for  prayer,  preaching,  and  mutual  spiritual 
encouragement,  apart  from  the  regular  worship  of  the  parish 
church,  and  without  the  supervision  of  their  pastors.  The 
matter  had  occasioned  considerable  perplexity  in  the  two 
preceding  Assemblies  of  1639  and  1640;  and  it  had  re- 
quired all  Henderson's  judgment  and  weight  to  arrange  a 
compromise.  In  these  recent  discussions  in  Scotland  the 
Congregational  ists  or  Brownists  among  the  Jtoot-and-Branch 
men  in  Kn^laml  had  iv«.-nised  the  fermentation  of  views 
akin  to  their  own.  lmltv.1,  it  was  announced  by  Henderson 
that  Messrs.  Dickson  and  Cant  \\viv  chiefly  referred  to  in  the 
letter  of  the  English  ministers  as  of  Congregationalist  tenden- 
cies. These  brethren  were  at  once  eager  to  clear  themselves 
from  tin-  imputation  :  "  none  in  all  the  Assembly  more  against 

VOL.  II  U 


290  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Independency  than  these  two,"  says  Baillie.  The  subject 
having  been  discussed  more  at  large  by  the  whole  Assembly, 
it  appeared  that  they  were  unanimous  against  Independency, 
and  Henderson  was  instructed  to  write  in  that  sense  to 
the  English  ministers.  "  Our  unanimous  judgment  and 
"  uniform  practice,"  said  this  answer,  "is  that,  according 
"  to  the  order  of  the  Keformed  Kirks  and  the  ordinance 
"  of  God  in  his  Word,  not  only  the  solemn  execution 
"  of  ecclesiastical  power  and  authority,  but  the  whole  acts 
"  and  exercise  thereof,  do  properly  belong  to  the  officers 
"  of  the  Kirk,  yet  so  that,  in  matters  of  chief  importance, 
"  the  tacit  consent  of  the  congregation  be  had  before  their 
"  decrees  and  sentences  receive  final  execution,  and  that  the 
"  officers  of  a  particular  congregation  may  not  exercise  this 
"  power  independently,  but  with  subordination  unto  greater 
"  Presbyteries,  and  Synods  provincial  and  national."-  — Let 
the  reader  do  all  he  can  to  bear  in  mind  this  correspondence 
in  the  autumn  of  1641  between  the  Puritan  ministers  of 
London  and  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Scottish  Kirk  then 
sitting  in  Edinburgh.  The  subject  was  to  be  of  immense 
moment  in  the  years  that  were  coming. 

The  Assembly  having  thus  acquitted  itself  on  the  main 
subject  of  the  communication  made  to  it  by  the  English 
Puritan  ministers,  there  was  a  hearty  reciprocation  of  the 
desire  which  the  English  brethren  had  expressed  for  a  uni- 
formity of  Religion  and  Church-government  between  the  two 
countries.  Nay,  with  views  towards  this  great  end,  "  a 
notable  motion  "  was  made  by  Henderson.  It  was  a  motion 
for  "  drawing  up  a  Confession  of  Faith,  a  Catechism,  a  Direct- 
ory for  all  the  parts  of  the  Public  Worship,  and  a  platform 
of  Government,  wherein  possibly  England  and  we  might 
agree."  Baillie  adds  that  "  all  did  approve,"  and  that  the 
burden  of  the  labour  was  forthwith  "  laid  on  the  back  of  the 
mover,"  i.e.  on  Henderson.  He  was  to  take  help  of  such  as 
he  liked,  and  was  to  be  allowed  as  much  leisure  from  parish 
duty  as  he  might  find  necessary.  For  there  was  at  this  time 
some  consternation  in  Edinburgh  on  account  of  his  com- 
plaining of  overwork  and  desiring  to  leave  his  city-charge 


1641.]  THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  I".'  1 

for  some  quiet  country-parish.     He  was  induced  to  remain  in 
harness.1 


The  Assembly  was  just  over,  after  its  fortnight  of  such 
work  (July  27 — Aug.  9),  when  the  King  arrived  in  Edinburgh 
(Aug.  14).  His  business  was  more  witli  the  Scottish  Par- 
liament, which  had  met  on  the  15th  of  July,  under  the 
continued  presidency  of  Lord  Burleigh.  It  formed  a  House 
of  145  members  in  all ;  of  whom  39  were  nobles,  49  lairds  or 
lesser  barons,  and  57  representatives  of  burghs:  churchmen 
ln'ing  still  quite  excluded.  It  is  of  interest  in  the  history 
of  Kdinburgh  that  this  Scottish  Parliament  of  1641  was  the 
first  of  real  importance  that  sat  in  the  fine  new  Parliament 
House  which  the  Edinburgh  people  had  recently  got  ready, 
after  eight  years  of  labour  and  expense,  in  the  sacred  old 
site  in  the  High  Street,  at  the  back  of  St.  Giles's  church. 
The  neighbourhood  is  now  considerably  changed,  and  Scottish 
Parliaments  are  things  of  the  far  past ;  but  the  name  "  Parlia- 
ment House  "  still  clings  to  the  building,  and  the  spacious 
oak-roofed  hall  which  was  actually  the  place  of  the  meetings 
of  the  Parliaments  is  still  one  of  the  characteristic  loci  of 
Edinburgh,  being  the  ante-room  to  all  the  law-courts,  where 
the  lawyers  promenade  in  their  wigs  and  gowns  all  day  long, 
and  their  clients  and  other  acquaintances  lounge,  and  the 
buzz  of  Edinburgh  gossip  is  loudest  and  most  authoritative. 
Cluse  l>y,  in  the  ground  outside,  which  once  formed  the  church- 
yard of  St.  Giles's,  but  has  long  since  been  levelled,  paved, 
and  cloistered,  is  the  grave  of  John  Knox.2 

To  understand  matters,  we  must  here  look  back  a 
little : — For  more  than  a  year  the  government  of  Scot- 
land had  been  exercised  by  that  Committee  of  Estates 


1  Baillie,    I.    354—377  ;    8toven*on,  Aug.  1639  (autt,  p.  122).     But  that  Par- 
468—473 ;    and   Auto  of    the  Scottish  liamunt  liud  txxm  frustrated ;  it*  rea»- 
A«embly  of  1641.  tumbling  in  Juno  1640  was  brief  (anil, 

2  Halfmir'x   "  Amuile*  <>f   Scotland,"  ]>.    136) ;  and  8ulwo|uont  meetingi  of 
III.   1  -'  ,"/.  :   M. .it  1, ,!,.!'-  Hi-t.  »f  K'liii  thu  K-tatos  in  tho  new  hull  had  DMA 
Imiyh  (17;>:i),  |.j».  185,  186.     Tho  new  for  the  inoro  form  of  adjournment  or 
Parliament    HI. a-..-    wa-    actually   first  prorogation. 

u-.-'i   l.y  tli.-    1'arli mi.  lit   which   met    in 


292  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

which  we  saw  appointed  in  June  1640,  just  before  Leslie's 
march  into  England  (see  ante,  p.  136).  It  consisted  of  forty 
persons  :  viz.  twelve  nobles  (the  Earls  of  Rothes,  Montrose, 
Cassilis,  Wigton,  Dunfermline,  and  Lothian,  and  Lords 
Lindsay,  Balmerino,  Cupar,  Burleigh,  Napier,  and  Lower)  ; 
twelve  lairds  or  lesser  barons ;  twelve  burgesses  ;  and  four 
Judges  of  Session.  Associated  with  the  Committee  by  special 
appointment,  as  supernumerary  or  consulting  member,  was 
Johnstone  of  Warns  ton.  In  the  list  of  the  nobles  in  the 
Committee,  it  will  be  observed,  two  names  are  conspicu- 
ously wanting, — that  of  Lord  Loudoun  and  that  of  the  Earl 
of  Argyle.  Loudoun  was  not  put  on  the  Committee  for 
the  very  good  reason  that,  when  it  was  appointed,  he  was  a 
prisoner  in  the  Tower  and  in  danger  of  his  neck.  The 
omission  of  Argyle's  name  at  the  same  time  may  have  been 
owing  partly  to  the  fact  that  there  had  been  assigned  to  him 
the  independent  charge  of  the  Highlands,  from  Argyleshire 
to  Angus,  with  watch  against  a  possible  invasion  from 
Ireland  while  Leslie's  army  was  in  the  South.  But  there  was 
a  profounder  reason  for  the  omission.  Argyle  was  then  so 
great  a  man  in  Scotland  that  to  put  him  on  the  Committee 
was  superfluous.  "  He  was  major  potestas,  and,  though 
"  not  formally  a  member,  yet  all  knew  that  it  was  his 
"  influence  that  gave  being,  life,  and  motion  to  those  new- 
"  modelled  governors."  And,  as  he  thus  governed  through 
and  over  the  Committee  of  Estates  from  the  first,  so 
the  course  of  events  had  thrown  more  and  more  of  the 
management  visibly  into  his  hands.  The  Committee  had 
been  broken  into  two  Sub-Committees,  one  accompanying 
Leslie  and  the  army  into  England,  and  the  other  remaining 
in  Edinburgh  ;  and,  after  the  war  was  at  an  end,  the  reunion 
of  the  body  had  been  prevented  by  the  necessity  that  some 
of  its  members  should  continue  with  Leslie  and  the  army 
about  Newcastle,  and,  farther,  by  the  necessity  of  detaching 
nine  of  the  members,  including  Rothes  and  Dunfermline,  to 
reside  in  London  as  Commissioners  for  the  Treaty.  Whatever 
dozen  or  more  of  the  nobles,  lairds,  and  burgesses  composing 
the  Committee  might  be  at  any  one  time  in  Edinburgh 


1641. J  TIIK  KIXc's  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  293 

to  form  a  quorum,  the  paramount  power  was  always  in 
tin-  hands  of  him  whom  his  fellow-countrymen  of  the  Low- 
lands knew  as  the  grave  Calvinistic  Earl,  and  whom  his 
Celtic  subjects  worshipped  as  Maccallummore,  or  feared  as 
<  1  i  1  k-spie  Grumach.  Of  course  there  were  jealousies.  Strange 
rumours  began  to  tye  emulated.  Were  they  not  calling  him 
"  King  Campbell  "  in  some  parts  of  the  Lowlands  ?  Nay,  had 
not  Gaelic  songs  been  heard  on  moonlight  nights  on  the  lips 
of  Highland  lochs,  in  which  shadowy  Highland  boatmen  with 
foxy  faces  .confided  to  each  other  that  Charles  Stuart  was  to 
rule  no  more,  but  their  own  chief  was  to  "  take  gear  from  the 
Sassenach  and  cry  King  at  Whitsunday  "  ?  What  all  this 
really  meant  was  that  Argyle  was  the  fittest  man  to  be  the 
aristocratic  head  of  such  a  thoroughly  Presbyterian  govern- 
ment of  the  Scotland  of  that  day  as  might  have  Henderson 
for  its  chief  clerical  intellect  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston  for 
its  working  Secretary  of  State.1 

Every  Ciesar  has  his  Pompey.  Who  can  pronounce  even 
now  without  some  emotion  the  name  of  James  Graham,  the 
young  Earl  of  Montrose  ?  Our  glimpses  of  him  hitherto 
have  been  but  vague  and  occasional.  We  have  seen  him 
when,  on  his  return  from  his  travels  to  his  native  land  and 
estates,  and  to  the  young  wife  whom  he  had  married  when 
only  a  boy, — Magdalene  Carnegie,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Southesk, — he  Was  welcomed  into  the  ranks  of  the  Cove- 
nanters, and  plunged  into  the  career  which  the  revolt  against 
Charles  and  the  Bishops  opened  up  for  him.  We  have  seen 
him  as  a  young  chief  among  the  Covenanters  from  that  time 
forward,  sharing  conspicuously  in  all  their  counsels  and  in 
all  their  acts.  We  have  seen  him  scourging  the  Aberdonians 
once  and  again  in  the  name  of  the  Covenant;  nominated  as 
one  of  the  Committee  of  Estates  ;  accompanying  Leslie  in  his 
expedition  into  England ;  and  signalizing  himself  in  that 
expedition  as  the  first  man  in  the  Scottish  army  to  cross  the 
Tweed  and  plant  an  invading  foot  on  English  soil.  With  all 
this,  however,  there  had  been  an  element  of  restlessness  in 
him  which  puzzled  the  Covenanters.  "James,"  his  friend 

i  Actaof  Parl.  of  Scotland,  V.  309—311  ;  Nnpior'n  Life  of  Monirow,  T.  261  etteq. 


294  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Rothes  had  said  to  him  on  one  occasion,  when  he  was  eager 
to  see  and  be  seen  in  a  crowd  assembled  in  the  High  Street 
of  Edinburgh  for  an  Anti-Episcopal  protestation,  "  you  will 
never  be  at  rest  till  you  are  lifted  up  above  your  fellows  in 
a  tow  (rope)."  He  was  always  "  hard  to  be  guided,"  says 
Baillie.  And  no  wonder.  He  had  joined  the  Covenanting 
movement  in  a  fit  of  patriotic  enthusiasm  ;  but,  essentially, 
there  was  as  little  of  the  Presbyterian  in  him  as  in  any  one 
then  living  within  the  realm  of  Presbytery.  His  mind  was 
rather  in  a  state  of  clear  Pagan  excitement,  full  of  admira- 
tion for  classic  heroes  like  those  of  Plutarch,  and  with  flash- 
ing visions  of  some  career  like  theirs,  splendid  in  war  or 
politics.  While  going  about  in  his  teens  over  his  estates,  a 
brilliant  young  Earl,  with  a  retinue  of  gamekeepers  and 
pipers,  he  had  written  scraps  of  verse,  some  of  which  are  yet 
preserved.  On  his  copy  of  Caesar's  Commmentaries  was 
this  distich : — 

"  Though  Cesar's  paragon  I  cannot  be, 
Yet  shall  I  soar  in  thoughts  as  high  as  lie ; " 

and  on  his  copy  of  Quintus  Cur  tins  this : — 

"  As  Philip's  noble  son  did  still  disdain 

All  but  the  dear  applause  of  merited  fame, 
And  nothing  harboured  in  that  lofty  brain 

But  how  to  conquer  an  eternal  name, 
80  great  attempts,  heroic  ventures,  shall 
Advance  my  fortune,  or  renown  my  fall." 

That  this  ambitious  young  soul,  Pagan  and  Plutarchian 
rather  than  Christian  or  Presbyterian  in  his  ideal  of  life,  could 
remain  permanently  associated  with  the  Presbyterian  majority 
of  his  countrymen  was  impossible.  It  would  be  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  there  were  not  other  nobles  and  lairds  who, 
though  belonging,  like  Montrose,  to  the  Presbyterian  move- 
ment, and  on  good  terms  with  Henderson,  Dickson,  and 
others  of  the  leading  clergy,  were  far  enough  from  being  in- 
clined to  give  their  own  days  and  nights  wholly  to  Calvinism. 
But,  while  most  such  were  content  to  let  matters  go  on  in  the 
course  that  had  been  begun,  it  had  become  a  secret  resolution 


1641.J  THK  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  295 

with  Montrose  to  free  himself  from  the  connexions  he  had 
1'nniK'd,  and,  if  possible,  to  carry  others  along  with  him.  In 
other  words,  he  had  conceived  the  notion  of  a  government  for 
Scotland  which,  while  there  should  be  no  going  back  in  it 
into  the  unpopular  Episcopal  system  abolished  by  the  recent 
revolution,  should  yet  be  conservative  as  compared  with  that 
which  the  Presbyterians  were  setting  up.  It  seems  probable 
that  some  of  his  views  in  this  direction  had  been  originally 
derived  from  his  brother-in-law,  Lord  Napier,  the  son  of 
Napier  of  the  Logarithms.  In  this  man,  with  some  talent  of 
his  own,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  that  logarithmic  blood,  in- 
ducing to  pecidiar  views  of  affairs,  and  to  abundant  and  very 
combative  expression  of  them  with  the  pen,  which  has  flowed 
since,  and  often  with  greater  genius,  in  all  bearing  the  name  of 
Napier.  Papers  which  he  left  behind  him  prove  that,  while 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Scottish  Privy  Council,  he  had  been 
strongly  opposed  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Bishops  and  to 
their  violent  policy  in  introducing  the  Service  Book  ;  but  he 
found  himself  hardly  more  at  ease  as  a  member  of  the  new 
Government  which  the  Revolution  had  brought  in.  As  he 
was  by  this  time  a  veteran,  having  been  a  Privy  Councillor 
since  1615,  his  influence  over  Montrose,  who  was  not  only  his 
brother-in-law,  but  had  been  under  his  guardianship  before 
attaining  his  majority,  may  have  been  considerable.1 

Whether  influenced  originally  by  Napier  or  not,  Montrose 
had  for  more  than  a  year  been  pursuing  a  policy  diverging 
from  that  of  Argyle  and  his  adherents.  Even  while  he  was 
serving  gallantly  in  Leslie's  army  he  had  been  in  secret 
correspondence  with  the  King.  The  discovery  of  this 
correspondence  by  his  colleagues  had  led  to  a  public 
accusation  of  him  by  Argyle  at  Leslie's  table,  and  would 
have  perhaps  led  to  his  trial  by  court-martial  but  for  the 
prudent  anxiety  of  Leslie  and  the  other  leaders  to  avoid  such 

1  Baillie's  scattered  references  in  Vol.  in  this  lxx>k,  one  must  acknowledge  its 

I.,  .iixl  Appendix  of  Documents  in  Vol.  frequent   picturottquoneftH,  its  umwual 

II.  pp.  4o7  ft  M»I.  ;  Clar.  I.  235.  236;  enoryy,  and  also  the  richness  and   in- 

but  especially  Mr.  Mark  Napier'*  Life  torost  of  the  material  limmrht  toother 

of   Monti-one  (I.  60,  218—279,  and    in  in  it  for  the  illustration  of  Montroao's 

other  places).    Whatever  one  may  think  Life  and  the  hixtory  of  the  period. 
<>f  Mr.  Ntipicr'N  extremely  violent  views 


296  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

a  scandal.  Then,  in  November  1640,  there  had  followed 
the  discovery  of  a  more  formidable  action  on  the  part  of 
Montrose.  This  was  the  formation,  before  the  march  of  the 
army  into  England,  of  a  Band  or  League,  called  "  The  Band 
of  Cumbernauld,"  by  which  he  and  nineteen  other  Scottish 
nobles  or  lairds,  including  the  Earl  Marischal  and  Lord 
Almont,  had  bound  themselves  by  a  Covenant,  subsidiary  to 
the  main  one,  to  withstand  what  they  called  "  the  particular 
and  indirect  practicking  of  a  few  "  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 
Satisfied  with  the  discovery  of  this  secret  association,  and 
with  the  profession  of  most  of  the  Banders,  including  Almont, 
that  they  had  done  foolishly  and  rashly  in  joining  it,  Argyle 
and  his  adherents  had  taken  no  farther  steps  in  the  matter, 
and  had  renewed  friendly  relations  with  some  of  them. 
But  Montrose  was  neither  to  be  won  over  nor  terrified.  All 
through  the  winter  of  1640-41  and  the  following  spring 
his  tongue  had  been  busy  against  the  Argyle  party,  now  in 
the  Scottish  army  at  Newcastle  and  within  Leslie's  hearing, 
now  on  his  own  estates  in  Angus  or  in  Perthshire,  and  again 
in  his  lodgings  in  the  Canongate  in  Edinburgh,  or  at  Napier's 
mansion  of  Merchiston  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city.  In 
looking  at  that  fine  old  turreted  mansion,  still  in  good  pre- 
servation, in  a  southern  suburb  of  Edinburgh,  one  sees  not 
only  the  original  seat  of  Napier  of  the  Logarithms,  but  also 
the  chief  scene  of  certain  important  deliberations  between 
Montrose  and  his  friends  in  the  winter  of  1640-41.  They 
issued  in  what  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  calling  the  Mer- 
chiston .House  Compact.  Of  this  compact,  besides  Montrose 
and  Napier,  were  Sir  George  Stirling  of  Keir,  a  colleague  of 
both  on  the  Committee  of  Estates,  and  doubly  related  to  Napier 
as  his  nephew  and  son-in-law,  and  Sir  Archibald  Stewart  of 
Blackball,  one  of  the  Lords  of  Session. 

Much  of  their  meditations,  at  least  of  those  of  Montrose 
and  Napier,  was  expressed  in  writing.  One  remarkable  essay 
of  Montrose's,  written  at  this  time,  in  the  form  of  a  Letter  to 
a  Friend  (possibly  Drummond  the  poet),  still  remains  and  has 
recently  been  published.  It  is  curious,  as  exhibiting  young 
Montrose  in  the  character  of  a  political  idealist.  It  is 


1641.]  II IK  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  297 

throughout  a  politico-philosophical  assertion  of  the  principle 
of  Authority  as  co-filial  with  the  principle  of  Liberty  in  the 
conduct  of  Suites,  and  this  in  a  style  of  abstract  Scottish 
reasoning  which  marks  a  characteristic,  or  perhaps  national, 
difference  between  M<>nt  rose's  conservatism  and  that  of  the 
English  Strafford.  In  all  States,  argues  the  Essayist,  there  is 
an  inherent  collective  sovereignty,  or  will,  not  lodged  in  the 
individual  wills  of  the  members  or  of  the  majority  of  them, 
and  which  yet  ought  not  to  be  mere  military  chieftainship 
nor  any  form  of  "  arbitrary  and  despotic  power."  The  func- 
tions of  this  true  governing  will,  the  essential  "  points  "  of 
this  sovereignty,  whether  it  is  lodged  "  in  the  person  of  a 
monarch,  or  in  a  few  principal  persons,  or  in  the  estates  of 
the  people,"  are  "  to  make  laws,  to  create  principal  officers,  to 
make  peace  and  war,  to  give  grace  to  men  condemned  by  law, 
and  to  be  the  last  to  whom  appellation  is  made."  These 
functions  are  "  inalienable,  indivisible,  incommunicable  ";  they 
"  belong  to  the  sovereign  power  primitively  in  all  govern- 
ments "  ;  and  they  "  cannot  subsist  in  a  body  of  individuities." 
After  thus  asserting  an  a  jrriwi  theory  of  government,  the 
Essay  glances  vaguely  at  the  application  the  writer  would 
make  of  the  theory  to  the  state  of  Scotland.  The  re-estab- 
lishment of  a  proper  relation  between  the  Crown  and  the 
Estates  was  the  true  problem.  As  it  was,  all  was  going  into 
confusion  ;  "  seditious  preachers  "  were  becoming  the  popular 
guides  ;  and  "  vultures  and  tigers  "  in  the  persons  of  ambitious 
nobles  were  making  the  body-politic  their  prey.  Aigyle  is 
not  named ;  but  it  is  hinted  that  the  kingdom  is  likely  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  some  such  single  person,  who  will  be 
obliged,  of  necessity,  to  establish  a  tyranny.  An  appeal  is 
made  to  the  various  classes  of  the  community  to  help  in  re- 
establishing the  true  national  sovereignty  by  bringing  about 
restored  relations,  in  the  first  place,  between  the  King  and  the 
rarlianu'iit.  It  might  be  difficult  to  gather  from  the  Essay 
the  exact  practical  means  to  this  end  which  the  writer  contem- 
I'lau-d,  were  it  not  for  a  comment  found  in  one  of  Napier's 
preserved  jottings  respecting  the  history  of  the  Merchiston 
House  Compact.  "  The  Earl  of  Montrose,"  he  says,  "  Lord 


298  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  Napier,  Sir  George  Stirling  of  Keir,  and  Sir  Archibald 
"  Stewart  of  Blackball,  knights,  having  occasion  to  meet  often, 
"  did  then  deplore  the  hard  estate  the  country  was  in.  ... 
"  These  sensible  evils  begot  in  them  thoughts  of  a  remedy. 
"  The  best,  they  thought,  was  that,  if  his  Majesty  would  be 
"  pleased  to  come  in  person  to  Scotland  and  give  his  people 
"  satisfaction  in  point  of  religion  and  just  liberties,  he  should 
"  thereby  settle  his  own  authority."  Here,  in  fact,  is  one  ex- 
planation of  Charles's  otherwise  inexplicable  determination  to 
visit  Scotland  in  the  autumn  of  1 6  4 1 .  A  secret  correspondence 
had  been  begun  with  him  by  Montrose  and  Napier  through 
the  medium  of  the  Duke  of  Eichmond,  and  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  this  correspondence  that  Charles,  as  early  as  May, 
had  begun  at  least  to  meditate  a  journey  to  the  north.  The 
plan,  doubtless,  was  that  Montrose,  in  his  place  in  Parliament, 
with  the  King  present  to  countenance  him,  should  openly 
attack  Argyle.1 

A  sudden  explosion  of  the  Plot  and  its  ramifications  had 
not  only  rendered  its  execution  impossible,  but  had  brought 
Montrose  and  his  friends  into  a  condition  in  which  they 
could  be  of  no  use  to  Charles  for  some  time  to  come.  Among 
Montrose's  reckless  speeches  through  the  country  had  been 
one  or  two  to  clergymen  and  other  private  persons  in  Perth- 
shire, revealing  the  nature  of  the  charges  he  was  to  bring 
against  Argyle.  They  were  to  the  effect  that  Argyle  had 
spoken  of  a  possible  deposition  of  the  King,  to  be  followed 
by  a  Dictatorship,  or  by  the  division  of  the  country 
into  three  great  military  cantonments  to  be  governed  by 
a  triumvirate.  These  speeches  of  Montrose,  having  been 
repeated  from  mouth  to  mouth,  had  at  last  reached  the 
Committee  of  Estates.  Montrose,  on  being  called  to  answer 
for  them  (May  27),  boldly  acknowledged  them  to  Argyle's 
face,  and  gave  as  his  chief  authority  a  certain  Mr.  John 
Stewart  of  Ladywell,  Commissary  of  Dunkeld.  Stewart,  on 
being  called  before  the  Committee  (May  31),  affirmed  all 

1  Baillie,  II.  468,  469  ;  Napier's  Mont-  Rev.  Robert  Wodrow  in  the  Advocates' 
rose,  I.  280—289  (where  Montrose's  Library,  Edinburgh),  also  295-6,  311— 
Essay  is  given  from  a  transcript  by  the  316,  &c. 


1641.]  THK   KING'S  VJSIT  TO  SCOTLAM'  299 

that  li<-  had  told  Montrose,  said  he  had  himself  heard 
the  treasonable  talk  of  Argyle  at  a  place  called  the  Ford 
of  Lyon  about  twelve  months  before,  and  drew  up  his 
charges  on  a  paper  which  he  signed.  As  Argyle  indig- 
nantly gave  them  the  lie  on  oath,  and  no  testimony  could 
be  brought  forward  by  Montrose  except  that  Of  Mr.  Stewart 
of  Ladywell,  the  brunt  of  the  storm  had  to  be  borne  by  that 
gentleman.  He  stood  in  one  of  two  characters.  Either 
he  was  the  prime  witness  in  a  charge  of  high  treason  against 
Argyle,  or  he  was  himself  liable  to  the  penalties  of  the 
crime  which  the  Scottish  Law  named  "  leasing-making,"  i.e. 
the  diffusion  of  false  rumours  to  cause  discord  between 
the  King  and  his  subjects.  It  was  in  the  latter  character, 
with  the  option  of  converting  it  into  the  other,  that  he  was 
committed  to  the  custody  of  Edinburgh  Castle.  He  had  been 
there  but  a  few  days  when  his  courage  gave  way.  He  wrote 
in  most  abject  terms  to  Argyle,  entreating  an  interview  ;  and 
the  result  was  that  he  confessed  to  several  persons  appointed 
to  visit  him  with  Argyle  (who  declined  seeing  him  privately) 
that  he  had  wrested  words  which  he  had  heard  Argyle  say 
at  the  Ford  of  Lyon  from  their  true  general  import  into  a 
special  and  treasonable  one,  through  a  "  prejudicate  opinion 
of  his  lordship."  So  much  for  Mr.  Stewart  of  Ladywell ; 
whose  arrest  might  not  have  involved  any  immediate  conse- 
quences to  Montrose  and  his  Merchiston  House  associates 
but  for  a  farther  discovery.  Stewart  had  admitted  that,  by 
the  advice  of  Montrose,  Napier,  and  the  knights  of  Kcir  and 
Blackball,  a  copy  of  his  charges  against  Argyle  had  been 
forwarded  to  Court,  and  that  the  bearer  was  a  Colonel  Walter 
Stewart  This  led  to  the  waylaying  of  the  Colonel  on  his 
return  journey  from  England  (June  4),  and  there  were  found 
on  him  letters  and  papers  of  a  very  compromising  nature. 
Concealed  in  his  saddle  was  one  letter  from  the  King  to 
Montrose  announcing  his  intention  of  visiting  Scotland ;  there 
were  documents  conferring  a  post  and  a  pension  on  Mr.  Com- 
missary Stewart ;  and  there  was  a  set  of  queer  notes  of  the 
Colonel's  own,  in  a  kind  of  cipher,  containing  mysterious 
allusions  to  "A. B.C.,"  "the  Serpent,"  "the  Dromedary," 


300  LIFE  OF  MILTON  ANP  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  Genero,"  "  the  Elephant,"  &c.  The  Colonel,  thereupon, 
confessed,  like  his  namesake  the  Commissary.  He  had  been 
for  some  time  the  agent  of  Montrose  and  his  Merchiston 
friends,  taking  letters  to  Court  from  them,  addressed  to  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  and  the  Earl  of  Traquair,  and  bringing 
back  answers.  The  plan  was  that  the  King  should  come 
to  Scotland,  and  then  that  an  attack  should  be  made  on 
Argyle  in  Parliament,  which  should  also  blast  the  character 
of  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton.  The  symbols  in  the  notes  had 
specific  meanings.  "  Genero  "  meant  Montrose,  "  the  Drome- 
dary "  Argyle,  "  the  Elephant  "  Hamilton,  &c.  Here  were 
grounds  enough  for  the  arrest  of  Montrose,  Napier,  Keir, 
and  Blackball ;  and,  accordingly,  they  were  committed  to  the 
Castle  (June  11)  on  a  charge  of  plotting.1 

The  news  of  the  arrest  of  Montrose  and  his  three  asso- 
ciates for  an  alleged  Plot  had  caused  some  excitement  in 
London.  Charles  had  hastened  to  write  to  Argyle,  acknow- 
ledging his  letter  to  Montrose,  but  repudiating  the  construc- 
tion put  upon  it,  and  expressing  his  hope  that,  when  he 
came  to  Scotland,  as  he  still  meant  to  do,  he  should  have 
Argyle's  assistance  in  clearing  away  mistakes.  Traquair  also 
had  disavowed  the  deep  designs  attributed  to  him  by  his 
relative  Colonel  Stewart,  who  had  "  ever  been  known,"  he 
said,  "  for  a  fool,  or  at  least  a  timid  half-witted  body,"  and 
whose  cipher-notes  were  but  some  cobweb  of  his  own  fancy. 
Neither  by  the  English  Parliament,  however,  to  whom  infor- 
mation was  given  by  the  Scottish  Commissioners,  nor  by 
the  English  public,  to  whom  it  was  communicated  in  a 
pamphlet,  had  the  matter  appeared  so  trivial.2 

The  month's  work  of  the  Scottish  Parliament  before 
Charles  arrived  to  take  part  in  it  (July  15 — Aug.  14)  had 
consisted,  in  a  great  measure,  of  debates,  analogous  to  those 
which  had  occupied  so  much  of  the  time  of  the  English 
Parliament,  respecting  the  trial  and  punishment  of  national 
delinquents.  There  were  two  classes  of  such  delinquents  in 
the  Scottish  reckoning.  There  were  the  "  Incendiaries,"  as  they 

1  Napier's   Montrose,    I.    254—304 ;  2  Rushworth,   IV.    290.    291  :    and 

Baillie,  I.  356  et  seq.  Napier,  I.  314—325. 


1641.]  THE  KINC's  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  301 

were  called,  or  those  chief  delinquents  (corresponding  to  the 
Straf fords,  Lauds,  and  Windebanks  of  the  English)  to  whose 
bad  counsels  and  designs  the  late  troubles  of  the  nation  were 
mainly  attributed  ;  and  there  were  the  "  Plotters,"  or  more 
recent  delinquents  (corresponding  to  the  Army-Plot  men  in 
England), who  had  been  disturbing  the  government  established 
by  the  Peace.  In  the  former  category  were  reckoned  Tra- 
quair,  ex-Bishop  Maxwell,  Dr.  Balcanquhal,  Sir  Robert  Spots- 
wood,  and  Sir  John  Hay  ;  in  the  latter  were  Montrose,  Napier, 
Keir,  Blackball,  and  their  messenger  Colonel  Stewart.  As 
most  of  the  Incendiaries  were  at  large  in  England,  the  busi- 
ness, so  far  as  it  concerned  them.,  resolved  itself,  for  the  most 
part,  into  correspondence  with  the  King  with  a  view  to 
bringing  them  to  trial.  The  Plotters,  on  the  other  hand, 
being  in  custody,  were  several  times  interrogated,  while 
additional  evidence  was  sought  for  in  all  directions  to  com- 
plete the  case  against  them.  On  the  whole,  the  proceed- 
ings against  both  classes  of  delinquents  had  to  lie  over 
till  the  King's  arrival.  It  was  different  with  the  poor  Laird 
of  Ladywell.  He  was  in  a  category  by  himself,  and  they 
were  able  to  make  short  work  with  him.  Tried  by  a  special 
session  of  the  Justiciary  Court,  and  found  guilty  on  his 
own  confession  and  on  other  evidence,  he  was  beheaded 
in  the  High  Street  of  Edinburgh  on  the  28th  of  July.  For 
one  who  had  the  fatal  honour  of  being  beheaded  he  has  left 
but  a  pitiable  figure  of  himself  in  the  Scottish  annals.1 

The  Laird  of  Lady  well's  head  had  been  off  a  fortnight  when 
Charles  and  his  train  arrived  in  Edinburgh.  He  reached 
Holyrood  late  on  Saturday  the  14th  of  August.  How 
different  the  circumstances  in  which  he  now  found  himself 
once  more  beneath  the  slopes  of  Arthur's  Seat  from  those 
<.i  his  coronation  visit  in  1633  !  Then  Laud  had  been  with 
him,  to  arrange  the  ceremonial  and  embroidery  of  the  coro- 
nation, direct  the  Scottish  Bishops,  and  prepare  the  way  for 
a  Service  Book,  Canons,  and  other  measures  for  bringing  the 
imperfect  Episcopacy  of  Scotland  nearer  the  perfect  mark. 

i  Baillie,  I.  381  ;  Napior,  I.  880. 


302  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Now  Laud  was  left  behind,  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  his 
system  wrecked  and  at  an  end  within  England  itself;  and 
the  first  religious  service  that  Charles  had  to  endure  in 
Scotland  was  one  conducted  in  the  Palace  Chapel,  on  the 
morning  after  his  arrival,  by  Alexander  Henderson.  It  was 
a  service  without  liturgy,  surplice,  or  any  such  thing,  but 
only  the  extempore  Presbyterian  prayers  and  a  sermon  on 
the  text  Eom.  xi.  36,  "  For  of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and 
to  Him  are  all  things ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever :  Amen." 
During  the  whole  of  the  King's  stay  Henderson  acted  as 
his  chaplain,  and  was  treated  by  him  with  much  respect.1 

Charles  undoubtedly  had  a  purpose  in  his  visit  to  Scotland. 
Within  limits,  it  may  be  discerned  as  a  purpose  natural,  wise, 
and  not  dishonourable  to  him  in  view  of  his  own  interests 
in  the  circumstances  in  which  he  stood.  To  look  out  for 
the  ablest  men  he  could  find  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  had 
begun  to  think  the  Eevolution  had  gone  far  enough,  and 
to  surround  himself  with  these  men  as  with  a  group  of  new 
Conservatives  who  would  take  the  places  once  occupied  by 
Strafford,  Laud,  Cottington,  and  their  comrades,  was  Charles's 
natural  policy.  It  was  a  policy  applicable  to  either  king- 
dom, but  it  seems  to  have  occurred  to  him  to  try  it  first  in 
Scotland.  We  have  seen  what  success  he  had  had  in  gaining 
over  Eothes,  when  the  protracted  residence  of  that  nobleman 
in  London  had  brought  him  within  the  reach  of  Court 
influence.  Eothes  was  as  good  as  lost  to  Scotland ;  he  had 
become  a  courtier;  he  was  to  have  a  place  in  the  Bed- 
chamber ;  he  was  to  marry  the  wealthy  Countess-Dowager  of 
Devonshire,  and  be  a  Covenanter  no  more !  So  Baillie  had 
complained.  But  what  if  Charles,  in  all  this,  was  looking 
forward  to  the  use  of  Eothes  in  Scotland  that  very  year  ? 
Did  Charles  think  of  bringing  Eothes  with  him  to  Edin- 
burgh, so  that  his  voice  might  be  again  heard,  in  somewhat 
new  strains,  in  that  Parliament  in  which  he  had  led  the  liberal 
opposition  not  so  very  long  ago  ?  If  such  were  the  intention, 
fate  was  against  it.  Poor  Eothes !  He  had  been  left  in 
dangerous  illness  in  some  house  or  lodging  near  Eichmond 

i  Baillie,  I.  385,  386  ;  Stevenson,  477—479 ;  Eushworth,  IV.  382. 


1641.1  THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  303 

Hill ;  and  thi-iv,  amid  autuinn  scenery  the  most  sylvan  in 
Kn^'lund,  but  with  his  memories  straying  perhaps  among  the 
hills  of  his  forsaken  north,  he  was  to  die  (Aug.  23)  ere  he 
could  well  have  heard  how  Charles  was  faring  among  his 
countrymen.1  The  services  of  Rothes  being  unavailable, 
Charles  might  well  have  thought  of  Montrose.  But  Montrose 
and  his  three  confederates  were  prisoners  in  Edinburgh 
Castle ;  and,  if  he  should  see  them  at  all  during  his  stay, 
it  could  be  but  as  they  might  be  brought  up  to  the  bar  of 
Parliament,  when,  if  present,  he  might  be  able  to  favour  them 
with  a  glance  or  nod.  It  remained  for  Charles  to  make  the 
best  he  could  of  his  relations  with  Argyle  and  those  others 
of  the  Committee  of  Estates  who  had  the  ascendency  for 
the  time.  He  had  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  the  Marquis 
of  Hamilton,  Hamilton's  brother  the  Earl  of  Lanark,  and 
others,  to  assist  him. 

For  about  two  months  (Aug.  14 — Oct.  12)  the  King  pro- 
ceeded, to  all  appearance,  by  the  right  method.  Day  after 
day  he  was  present  in  the  Parliament,  feeling  his  way,  and 
making  courteous,  though  sometimes  sharp,  little  speeches. 
In  his  very  first  speech  he  declared  that  "  love  to  his  native 
country  had  been  his  chief  motive  to  his  journey,"  and  that 
his  purpose  was  to  "  perfect  whatsoever  he  had  promised  " 
and  to  <:  end  distractions  " ;  and  it  was  accepted  as  an  omen 
of  peace  that,  within  the  first  few  days  after  his  arrival,  the 
Duke  of  Lennox,  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  the  Earls  of 
Morton,  Perth,  Roxburgh,  Lanark,  and  other  nobles  who 
had  hitherto  stood  out  against  the  Covenant,  qualified 
tin  -nisei  ves  for  their  places  in  Parliament  by  signing  that 
document  and  taking  the  other  necessary  oaths.  Differ- 
ences, indeed,  did  appear.  There  were,  in  the  main,  two 
questions  on  which  there  were  such  differences.  There  was 
the  question  of  the  filling  up  of  the  offices  of  State  and 
the  Privy  Councillorships  which  the  Revolution  had  ren- 
dered vacant,  so  as  to  determine  in  whose  hands  the  future 
government  of  Scotland  should  be  vested,  now  that  the 

»  Baillio,  I.  388;  Burn. -t v  l.iv-  ..f  th,  Dukw  of  Hamilton  (edit.  1868), 
234;  nii'l  Clarendon,  I.  '-'I'.'. 


304  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

provisional  government  exercised  by  the  Committee  of 
Estates  had  come  to  a  natural  end.  The  difference  between 
Charles  and  the  Scottish  leaders  on  this  question  was  that, 
whereas  they  maintained  that  all  such  appointments  ought 
to  be  made  by  the  advice  of  Parliament,  he  claimed  the 
sole  right  of  such  appointments  as  inherent  in  his  prero- 
gative. The  other  question  was  that  of  the  Incendiaries 
and  the  Plotters.  Charles,  with  a  natural  remorse  in  recol- 
lection of  Strafford,  was  anxious  not  only  that  Montrose  and 
his  associates  should  escape  the  consequences  of  their  con- 
spiracy, but  also  that  Traquair,  Maxwell,  and  others  who  had 
served  his  policy  before  the  Kevolution,  should  be  dealt  with 
lightly.  On  both  these  questions,  but  perhaps  more  on  the 
second  than  on  the  first,  Charles  seemed  likely  to  carry 
matters  his  own  way.  Hamilton  did  much  towards  per- 
suading the  leading  nobles  to  lenient  dealing  with  the 
Incendiaries  and  Plotters  ;  and  Argyle  was  disposed  to  yield 
in  this  matter  to  an  extent  which  Johnstone  of  Warriston 
and  many  of  the  clergy  thought  excessive.  Henderson, 
however,  went  with  Argyle,  and  gave  his  advice  for  forgetting 
the  past  as  much  as  might  be.1 

Suddenly,  when,  after  two  months  of  discussion,  things 
seemed  to  be  adjusting  themselves  to  an  amicable  conclusion, 
there  occurred  a  most  mysterious  business,  which  threw  all 
Edinburgh  into  alarm.  What  an  air  of  mystery  and  vague- 
ness hung  over  the  occurrence  at  the  time,  and  still  hangs 
over  it,  is  indicated  by  the  name  given  to  it  by  Scottish  his- 
torians. It  is  called  emphatically  The  Incident.  The  facts  are 
these  : — On  Tuesday  the  1 2th  of  October  the  news  ran  through 
Edinburgh  that  in  the  course  of  the  preceding  night  Hamilton, 
the  Earl  of  Lanark,  and  Argyle  had  fled  from  the  city  hur- 
riedly, and  gone  to  Kinneill  House,  a  seat  of  Hamilton's, 
about  twelve  miles  distant.  The  three  noblemen,  it  was  said, 
had  been  secretly  informed  of  a  plot  laid  for  them.  They 
were  that  night  to  be  sent  for,  as  if  on  important  business,  to 
the  King's  bedchamber ;  they  were  there  to  be  arrested  by 
a  body  of  armed  men  under  the  command  of  the  Earl  of 

1  Baillie,  I.  389  et  seq.  ;  and  Balfour's  Annals,  III.  40—94. 


1641.]  THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  305 

Crawford  ;  they  were  to  be  smuggled  into  a  coach,  carried  to 
Leith,  and  put  on  board  one  of  the  King's  ships  lying  in  the 
Firth ;  if  a  rescue  were  attempted,  they  were  to  be  killed ; 
but,  once  on  board  the  ship,  they  were  to  be  kept  there  till 
the  King's  pleasure  should  be  known  !  Meanwhile  a  regiment 
in  Musselburgh  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Cochrane 
was  to  be  marched  to  Edinburgh ;  there  were  to  be  arrests  of 
other  leading  Parliament-men,  and  even  a  slaughter  of  the 
citizens  if  they  resisted ;  Montrose  and  his  associates  were  to 
be  released  from  their  prisons,  and  Montrose  was  to  take 
command  of  the  Castle ;  there  was  to  be  a  rising  of  all  the 
disaffected  districts ;  and,  the  power  being  once  more  in  the 
King's  hands,  there  was  to  be  a  re-ordering  of  Parliament, 
and  a  trial  of  its  recent  chiefs  for  high  treason  !     Such  were 
the  rumours,  wild,  monstrous,  and  horrible,  that  filled  Edin- 
burgh on  the  morning  of  the  12th,  and  gathered  the  citizens 
in  crowds  round  the  Parliament  House.     Hasting  thither  in 
a  fury  and  with  an  armed  following,  the  King  had  almost 
to  break  his  way  in.     He  had  come,  he  said,  to  complain  of 
an  outrage  on  his  honour.     Could  he  have  believed  that  any 
three  noblemen  would  have  thrown  such  suspicion  on  their 
sovereign  as  to  flee  from  him  without  notice,  under  pretext  of 
a  plot  to  be  executed  against  them  at  the  door  of  his  bed- 
chamber ?     The  very  men,  too,  with  whom  he  had  been  most 
intimate,  whom  he  had  most  honoured !  Above  all,  Hamilton  ! 
O, if  they  but  knew  how  he  had  favoured  that  man,  disbelieving 
charges  to  his  discredit  that  had  for  years  been  in  circulation  ! 
So  the  King  addressed  the  Parliament,  with  oaths,  repetitions, 
even  "  tears  in  his  eyes."     They  listened  reverentially  and 
even  sympathetically.     Still  there  were  ugly  appearances. 
Were  there  not  wild  swaggerers  about  the  Court,  fit  for 
anything  desperate  ?     Had  not  Crawford,  after  too  much 
drink,  carried  a  challenge  to  Hamilton  from  young  Lord 
Ker,  the  son  of  the  Earl  of  Roxburgh,  which  Hamilton  had 
quietly  disregarded  as  but  a  drunken  frolic ;  and  had  not 
another  nobleman  been  heard  to  say  that  "  there  were  now 
three  Kings  in  Scotland,  and,  by  God,  two  of  them  (Hamilton 
and  Argyle)  ought  to  have  their  heads  cut  off"  ?     Nay,  this 

VOL.  II  X 


306  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

coming  of  the  King  himself  to  Parliament  with  an  armed 
following,  though  with  no  evil  intention,  might  it  not  lead 
to  evil  ?  In  short,  Crawford,  Cochrane,  and  others  were 
laid  fast,  the  city-bands  were  drawn  closer  round  the  Parlia- 
ment House,  and  such  regiments  of  horse  and  foot  were 
brought  to  the  spot  as  were  within  the  sound  of  Leslie's 
whistle.1 

Gradually  the  commotion  subsided.  The  result  of  an 
inquiry,  so  far  as  it  was  made  public,  was  that  Crawford, 
Cochrane,  and  others  had  been  concerting  something  desperate, 
but  that  "  nothing  was  found  that  touched  the  King  ;  neither 
much  that  did  reflect  on  the  Duke  (Eichmond),  or  on  Almont, 
or  William  Murray  (one  of  the  King's  attendants)."  As  re- 
spected Montrose,  the  fact  of  his  being  then  a  prisoner  in  the 
Castle  rendered  any  active  share  in  the  plot  on  his  part  impos- 
sible ;  but  Crawford  and  Cochrane  had  been  in  relations  with 
him  before  his  imprisonment,  and  it  was  ascertained  that 
quite  recently  he  had  been  communicating  from  his  prison 
with  the  King  by  letters  sent  through  William  Murray.2 
Having  thus  taken  the  measure  of  the  plot,  whatever  it  was, 
the  Parliament  was  not  disposed  to  make  too  much  of  it ;  and, 
the  King  on  his  side  cooling  down  from  his  first  violence  of 
rage,  Hamilton,  Lanark,  and  Argyle,  after  a  week  or  two  of 
absence,  were  induced  to  return  to  Edinburgh. 

Business  was  then  resumed  ;  and,  the  power  of  Argyle  having 
been  greatly  increased  by  "  The  Incident,"  the  proceedings  of 
the  session  were  brought  harmoniously  to  a  close.  On  the 
1 7th  of  November  the  Parliament  held  its  last  sitting,  having 
since  its  meeting  on  the  15th  of  July  got  through  a  body  of 

1  Balfour's    Annals,     III.     94—101;  'merit,'  but  rather    desired    'to  kill 
Baillie,  I.  391  et  seq.  ;  Stevenson,  485  ;  'them  both,' which  he  frankly  'under- 
Napier,    I.    358 — 368,   and   Appendix,  '  took  to  do ' ;  but  the  King,  abhorring 
pp.  Iv — Ixxvi.  '  that  expedient,  for  his  own  security, 

2  SeeClar.  119.   "  After  his  Majesty's  'advised   'that  the  proofs  might  be 
'arrival  in  Scotland,"  says  Clarendon,  'prepared  for  the  Parliament' :  when 
'he  (Montrose),   by  the   introduction  'suddenly,"  &c.      (Here  follows  the 
'of  Mr.  William  Murray  of  the  Bed-  story  of  "The  Incident.")    Now,  Mont- 
'  chamber,  came  privately  to  the  King,  rose  was  in  prison  at  the  time,  so  that 
'  and  informed  him  of  many  particulars  his   connexion   with    "The   Incident" 
'  from  the  beginning  of  the  Rebellion,  cannot  have  been  so  direct.     But,  as 
'and  'that  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  a  confused  recollection   by  Clarendon 
'  was  no  less  faulty  and  false  towards  of  what  he  must  have  heard  afterwards 
'his  Majesty  than  Argyle, 'and  offered  from  the  King  himself,  the  story  has 
' '  to  make  proof  of  all  in  the  Parlia-  some  significance. 


1641.]  THE  KING'S  VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND.  307 

public  and  private  acts  which  now  fill  350  folio  printed  pages 
of  the  Scottish  Statute-book.  The  business  of  the  "  Incen- 
diaries "  and  "  Plotters  "  had  at  length  been  wound  up  by  a 
compromise,  by  which,  while  the  legal  proceedings  against 
them  were  to  be  continued  to  their  issue,  the  men  themselves 
were  to  be  considered  as  forgiven  beforehand.  Accordingly, 
Montrose,  Napier,  Keir,  Blackball,  and  the  two  Incendiaries  in 
custody,  Spotswood  and  Hay,  were  liberated  on  security.  In 
the  more  difficult  business,  too,  of  the  arrangement  of  the 
future  Government,  the  Parliament  and  the  King  had  come  to 
an  understanding.  The  office  of  Chancellor  of  Scotland  was 
conferred  on  Lord  Loudoun  ;  the  Treasurership  was  given  to 
a  commission  of  five,  of  whom  Argyle  was  chief ;  the  Privy 
Seal  was  continued  in  the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Roxburgh  ; 
the  Secretaryship  of  State  was  given  to  the  Earl  of  Lanark ; 
and  with  these  and  other  state-officers  there  were  associated 
thirty-nine  persons  of  different  ranks,  including  the  Duke  of 
Lennox  and  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  to  act  as  members  of 
the  general  Privy  Council.  The  Fifteen  Lords  of  Session, 
or  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  were  also  duly  named, — four 
of  the  former  Fifteen  being  displaced  for  new  men,  among 
whom  was  Johnstone  of  Warriston.  Finally,  that  all  might 
be  concluded  graciously,  there  was  a  sufficient  sprinkling  of 
peerages  and  knighthoods  among  the  men  of  merit.  Lord 
Loudoun,  in  addition  to  the  Chancellorship,  received  pro- 
motion in  the  peerage  and  became  Earl  of  Loudoun,  his  right 
to  that  title  to  be  reckoned  from  May  12,  1633,  when  a 
patent  for  it  had  been  made  out ;  Field-Marshal  Leslie  was 
created  Earl  of  Leven,  with  descent  to  all  heirs  whatever ; 
Lord  Alrnont,  Leslie's  second  in  command,  was  raised  to 
tin-  Earldom  of  Callander ;  one  Knight  was  made  a 
Viscount,  and  three  were  made  Barons.  Among  the  new 
knights  we  need  note  only  Sir  Archibald  Johnstone  of 
Warriston,  known  henceforward  also  by  his  judge's  courtesy 
title  of  "Lord  Warriston."  But  the  greatest  promotion 
and  the  most  ceremoniously  conferred  was  on  the  last 
day  of  the  session,  when,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  closing 
state-formalities  which  had  been  begun  by  a  splendid  proces- 


308  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

sion  to  the  House,  the  King  caused  a  patent  to  be  read,  dated 
Nov.  15,  raising  Archibald,  Earl  of  Argyle,  to  the  dignity  of 
Marquis,  and  then  with  his  own  hand  delivered  the  patent  to 
the  obeisant  nobleman.  Then  came  the  closing  sermon  and 
prayer  by  Mr.  Henderson,  and  the  breaking-up  of  the  Parlia- 
ment into  the  crowded  and  lighted  High  Street  about  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  It  was  too  late  to  re-form  the  pro- 
cession to  convey  his  Majesty  down  the  street  to  Holyrood, 
but  not  too  late  for  the  huzzas  of  the  people,  and  the  firing 
of  great  guns  on  the  battlements  of  the  Castle.1 

The  next  day  Charles  took  his  departure  from  Edinburgh, 
having,  according  to  Clarendon,  only  made  "  a  more  perfect 
deed  of  gift  "  of  his  native  kingdom  to  the  men  who  had  been 
wringing  it  from  him,  but "  leaving  the  Scots  a  most  contented 
people,"  as  one  of  their  own  historians  relates. 


IRISH    INSURRECTION. 

At  the  very  time  when  Scotland  was  so  unusually  happy, 
poor  Ireland  was  in  a  welter  of  misery  from  end  to  end,  by 
reason  of  an  insurrection  the  most  dreadful  that  we  read  of 
even  in  her  annals.  During  the  last  three  weeks  of  Charles's 
stay  in  Scotland  this  Irish  insurrection  had  been  the  ghastly 
subject  of  all  men's  thoughts  throughout  both  Scotland  and 
England,  and  every  post  from  Ireland  had  been  looked  for 
with  the  intensest  anxiety  in  Edinburgh,  London,  and  every 
city,  town,  and  village  in  either  kingdom.  The  news  indeed 
had  hastened  the  final  arrangements  between  the  King  and 
the  Scots. 

Immediately  after  the  execution  of  Strafford,  the  Lord- 
Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  had  been  conferred  on  Eobert  Sidney, 
Earl  of  Leicester,  already  known  to  us  as  Lord  Scudamore's 
fellow-ambassador  from  Britain  to  the  French  Court.2  But, 
though  appointed  May  19,  1641,  he  had  not  gone  over  to 
assume  office,  but  had  left  the  management  of  Irish  affairs  in 
the  meantime  to  the  resident  officials  in  Dublin,  the  chief  of 

i  Balfour's   Annals,    III.    130—165  ;       Acts  of  Parl.  of  Scotland,  V.  334—683. 
Baillie,  I.  393  ;  Stevenson,  478—493 ;          2  Vol.  I.  pp.  751 


1641.]  IRISH  INSURRECTION.  309 

whom  were  the  Lords-Justices  Sir  William  Parsons  and  Sir 
John  Borlace.  Little  was  it  known  either  to  him  or  to  them 
what  an  explosion  was  in  preparation.  As  Scotland  and 
England  had  had  their  revolutions,  so  Ireland  had  determined 
to  have  hers.  Had  not  she  also  her  catalogue  of  woes  and 
wrongs,  older  and  deeper  than  any  that  afflicted  Scotland  or 
England  ?  Was  not  her  national  religion  proscribed  and 
trodden  down  ;  was  not  her  native  population  ruled  by  a 
minority  of  alien  colonists ;  were  not  her  lands  slowly  wrested 
by  every  process  and  quirk  of  law  from  their  ancient  lords, 
and  clutched  by  these  intruders ;  were  not  her  children,  even 
when  they  had  the  means,  restrained  from  the  re-purchase  of 
those  lands,  in  order  that  the  entire  territory  might  gradually 
pass  into  the  hands  of  strangers  ?  Ireland  would  have  her 
revolution,  and  it  should  be  after  her  own  fashion. 

The  prime  mover,  it  is  said,  was  Roger  More,  or  Rory 
O'More,  of  Ballynagh,  co.  Kildare,  described  as  "  one  of  the 
most  handsome,  comely,  and  proper  persons  of  his  time,  of 
excellent  parts,  good  judgment  and  great  cunning,  affable  and 
courteous  in  his  behaviour,  insinuating  in  his  address,  and 
agreeable  in  his  conversation."  He  had  been  brooding  over 
his  country's  wrongs  ;  and,  having  persuaded  himself  that  the 
distracted  state  of  England  and  the  precedent  of  the  Scottish 
revolt  afforded  a  fair  opportunity  for  an  Irish  rising,  he  had, 
from  the  beginning  of  1641,  been  organizing  a  conspiracy  to 
that  end.  He  had  been  in  communication  with  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone,  son  of  the  famous  Tyrone  of  a  former  generation, 
and  then  a  colonel  in  the  Spanish  service,  and  with  other  Irish 
exiles  in  Spain,  France,  and  Flanders ;  and  at  home  he  had 
inspired  with  his  views  a  small  group  of  persons,  chieHy  of 
old  Irish  families,  but  with  one  or  two  Anglo-Irishmen  among 
them.  Sir  Phelim  O'Neile  of  county  Tyrone,  Lord  Macguire 
of  county  Fennanagh,  and  Colonel  Hugh  Macmahon  of 
county  Monaghan,  were  the  chief  of  the  Irish  conspirators, 
and  Colonel  Richard  Plunket  the  chief  of  the  Anglo-Irish 
conspirators,  in  this  group  around  More.  Their  scheme,  after 
various  meetings  and  deliberations,  took  this  shape : — On 
Saturday  the  23rd  of  October,  "  being  St.  Ignatius  Loyola's 


310  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

day,"  there  was  to  be  an  attack  upon  the  Castle  of  Dublin, 
then  containing  stores  of  arms  and  ammunition  ;  at  the  same 
hour  there  were  to  be  attacks  by  local  bands  of  insurgents  on 
other  places  of  strength  throughout  Ireland :  thus  over  the 
whole  island  simultaneously  the  native  Irish  would  be  up  in 
arms,  chasing  and  encircling  the  English  and  Scottish  Protest- 
ants, and  able  to  maintain  the  insurrection  till  they  should 
be  joined,  as  was  hoped,  by  the  Catholics  of  the  Pale,  and 
reinforced  also  by  the  arrival  of  trained  military  men  from 
among  the  Irish  exiles  on  the  Continent.  The  Earl  of  Tyrone 
having  meanwhile  died  abroad,  the  military  exile  whose 
arrival  was  most  eagerly  expected  was  another  scion  of  the 
great  O'Neile  clan,  Owen  Eoe  O'Neile,  Colonel  in  the  Spanish 
service  in  Flanders.1 

Whatever  was  the  original  conspiracy,  hardly  a  whisper  of 
it  reached  the  Lords- Justices  till  the  22nd  of  October,  the  eve 
of  the  fatal  day.  They  were  able  to  take  precautions  by  which 
Dublin  was  saved,  and  Macguire,  Macmahon,  and  some  others 
were  arrested;  but  punctually,  the  next  day,  bands  of  insurgents 
were  at  work  in  the  county  of  Monaghan  and  other  counties, 
roving  about,  burning  and  sacking  the  houses  of  Protestants, 
and  chasing  the  unhoused  men,  women,  and  children  over 
the  moors  and  fields.  Next  day,  and  the  next,  and  the  next, 
it  was  the  same,  the  insurrection  spreading  from  county  to 
county  wherever  there  were  English  or  Scottish  settlers,  and 
everywhere  with  the  same  effects.  Having  but  2,000  foot  and 
1,000  horse  at  their  disposal,  and  these  in  garrison  or  wanted 
for  the  protection  of  Dublin,  the  Lords -Justices  could  do 
nothing  but  remain  where  they  were,  in  fear  and  trembling, 
receiving  such  fugitives  as  nocked  into  Dublin,  and  writing 
despatch  after  despatch  to  Leicester  in  London,  and  the  King 
in  Edinburgh,  imploring  immediate  help  and  instructions. 
At  length  (Nov.  5)  they  report  that  all  the  estates  and  houses 
of  Protestants  in  five  counties  of  Ulster  have  already  been 
seized,  and  the  despoiled  families  either  murdered  or  otherwise 
barbarously  treated;  that,  though  the  insurrection  was  fiercest 
in  Ulster,  where  the  English  and  Scots  were  most  numerous, 

i  Carte's  Ormond,  I.  153—164,  and  Rushworth,  IV.  398  et  seq. 


1641.]  IRISH  INSURRECTION.  311 

it  had  spread  into  the  other  provinces,  wherever  there  were 
stray  Protestant  families,  and,  more  particularly,  was  raging 
in  Leitrim  (Connaught)  and  in  Longford,  Meath,  Louth,  King's 
County,  and  Queen's  County  (Leinster) ;  and  that,  in  fact,  the 
whole  of  the  north  and  north-east  of  Ireland  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  native  Irish,  who  had  an  army  of  30,000  in  the 
field,  then  going  about  in  great  divisions,  and  threatening  to 
take  Dundalk  and  Drogheda,  and  then  Dublin.  But,  indeed, 
by  this  time  there  were  proclamations  of  the  insurgents  from 
which  it  was  possible  to  judge  of  their  strength  and  their 
intentions.  One  manifesto  which  they  issued  under  the  title 
of  "  The  Oath  of  the  Confederate  Catholics  of  Ireland  "  was 
a  kind  of  Irish  equivalent  of  the  Scottish  Covenant,  by  which 
those  who  took  it  swore  "  by  Almighty  God  and  all  the  Angels 
and  Saints  in  Heaven  "  to  maintain  and  defend  "  the  public 
and  free  exercise  of  the  true  and  Catholic  Roman  Religion," 
and  also  to  bear  faithful  allegiance  to  King  Charles,  his  heirs 
and  successors,  and  to  stand  by  them  against  all  that  should 
"  directly  or  indirectly  endeavour  to  suppress  their  royal  pre- 
rogatives." Nay,  certain  of  the  insurgent  leaders,  with  Sir 
Phelim  O'Neile  at  their  head,  actually  put  forth  a  proclama- 
tion, dated  "  From  our  camp  at  Newry  this  4th  of  November 
1641,"  in  which  they  declared  themselves  to  be  acting  under 
a  direct  commission  from  Charles  issued  by  him  at  Edinburgh 
on  the  preceding  1st  of  October  under  the  Great  Seal  of 
Scotland  They  were  audacious  enough  to  publish  the  text 
of  this  alleged  commission,  the  purport  of  which  was  that, 
whereas  Charles  had  been  obliged  "  by  the  obstinate  and  dis- 
obedient carriage  of  the  English  Parliament "  to  take  refuge 
in  Scotland,  he  authorized  his  faithful  Irish  to  advise,  consult, 
and  combine  together  in  his  interest,  to  possess  themselves  of 
all  forts,  castles,  and  places  of  strength  in  Ireland,  except  such 
as  were  occupied  by  "  his  loving  and  loyal  subjects,  the  Scots," 
and  to  "  arrest  and  seize  the  goods,  estates,  and  persons,  of  all 
the  English  Protestants."  For  a  while,  on  the  faith  of  this 
document  (rejected  by  all  subsequent  inquirers  as  a  proved 
forgery),  the  Insurgent  army  assumed  the  name  of  "The 
King's  army  "  ;  and,  when  that  would  not  answer,  they  called 


312  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

themselves  "  The  Queen's  Army,"  and  professed  to  act  under 
instructions  direct  from  the  Queen-Consort. 

Eoger  More  and  others  of  the  original  conspirators  may 
have  had  visions  of  an  insurrection  that  should  be  controlled 
by  political  purpose,  so  as,  while  it  effected  the  liberation  of 
the  native  race  and  religion  on  the  one  hand,  to  be,  on  the 
other,  a  loyal  service  to  the  King's  cause  in  the  midst  of  his 
English  difficulties.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  from  the  first 
moment  the  actual  Insurrection  burst  all  bounds  of  govern- 
ment or  reason,  and  became  a  mere  revel  of  murderous  phrenzy, 
from  which  More  recoiled,  leaving  Phelim  O'Neile  chiefly  re- 
sponsible. According  to  the  lowest  contemporary  calculations 
as  many  as  30,000  Protestants,  English  and  Scottish,  were  mur- 
dered within  the  first  few  months  of  the  Insurrection  ;  other 
calculations  raised  the  number  to  100,000  ;  and  the  historian 
May  gives  the  utterly  bewildered  estimate  of  200,000  within 
the  first  month  only.  Bound  numbers  in  such  a  case  are  falla- 
cious, and  we  must  suppose  exaggeration  even  in  the  lowest 
estimate ;  but,  by  way  of  specimens  in  detail,  take  the 
following  statements  picked  out  from  fifteen  folio  pages  of 
Eushworth,  containing  a  compilation  from  depositions  after- 
wards given  on  oath  by  witnesses  of  the  horrors  in  different 
parts  of  Ireland.  The  compilation  is  very  confused,  and 

it  is  difficult  to  identify  some  of  the  places  named : 

Co.  Antrim:  In  one  morning  as  many  as  954  killed,  and 
1100  or  1200  at  other  times. Co.  Armagh:  "Protest- 
ants in  multitudes  forced  over  the  bridge  at  Portadown, 
whereby  at  several  times  there  were  drowned  in  the  river 
Bann  about  1,000  ";  "  forty-four  at  several  times  drowned  in 
the  Blackwater  " ;  "  two-and-twenty  Protestants  put  into  a 
thatched  house  in  the  parish  of  Kilmore  and  there  burnt 
alive  " ;  "  seventeen  men,  women,  and  children  cast  into  a 
bog-pit  in  the  parish  of  Dumcreess  (?)  "  ;  "  three  hundred  Pro- 
testants stripped  naked  and  put  into  the  church  of  Loghall, 
whereof  about  a  hundred  murdered  within  the  church,  and 
such  as  were  not  murdered  were  turned  out  a-begging 
amongst  the  Irish,  naked,  and  into  the  cold,  most  of  whom 
were  killed  by  Irish  trulls  and  children  "  ;  one  Mary  Barlow, 


1041.]  IRISH  INSURRECTION.  313 

her  husband  having  been  hanged,  stripped  naked  with  her  six 
children,  and  "  turned  out  a-begging  in  frost  and  snow,  by 
means  whereof  they  were  almost  starved,  having  nothing  to 
eat  in  three  weeks  that  they  lay  in  a  cave,  but  two  old  calf- 
skins, which  they  beat  with  stones  and  so  eat  them,  hair  and 
all " ;  "  Lieutenant  Giles  Maxwell,  by  order  of  Sir  Phelim 
O'Neile,  dragged  out  of  his  bed,  raving  in  the  height  of  a 
burning  fever,  driven  two  miles,  and  murdered,"  and  his  wife, 
then  pregnant,  "  stripped  naked  and  drowned  in  the  Black- 
water,  the  child  half-born  "  ;  Mr.  Starkey,  a  very  old  man, 
and  his  two  daughters,  stripped  naked,  driven  along  three 
quarters  of  a  mile,  and  then  "  all  three  drowned  in  a  turf- 
pit." Co.  Down  :  Eighty  forced  to  go  on  the  ice  on  Lough 

Earn  (?)  till  they  brake  the  ice  and  were  drowned " ;  "  at 
Servagh  (?)  Bridge  100  drowned,  more  80,  more  60,  more 
50,  more  60";  about  1,000  killed  in  this  county  by  one 

of   the  rebel    chiefs   alone. Co.  Tyrone:    "About  300 

murdered  on  the  way  to  Colrain  (?)  by  direction  from  Sir 
Phelim  O'Neile  " ;  "in  and  about  Dungannon  316  murdered  " ; 
"  between Charlemont  and  Dungannon  about  400  murdered  "  ; 
"  eighteen  Scotch  infants  hanged  on  clothiers'  tenter-hooks, 
and  one  young  fat  Scotchman  murdered  and  candles  made 

of  his  grease,"  &c. Co.   Tipperary :    "  Four-and-twenty 

English,  after  they  had  revolted  to  the  Mass,  murdered  at 
the  Silver  Mines  " ;  "  near  Kilfeckel  an  Englishman,  his 
wife  and  four  or  five  children,  hanged,"  and  "  all  afterwards 
cast  into  one  hole, — the  youngest  child,  not  fully  dead,  putting 
up  the  hand  and  crying  '  Mammy,'  yet  buried  alive  " ;  &c. 

Co.Roscommon:  "William  Stewart  had  collopscut  off  him, 

being  alive,  fire-coals  put  into  his  mouth,  his  belly  ripped  up 
and  his  entrails  wrapped  about  his  neck  and  wrists." 

Enough  of  these  quotations.  The  mind  refuses  to  believe 
in  more  than  a  fraction  of  their  horrible  details  as  by  any  pos- 
sibility authentic.  But  such  were  the  stories  that  every  post 
brought  over  to  England  and  Scotland,  and  that  represented, 
too  truly  in  tin  main,  with  whatever  exaggeration  in  parti- 
culars, what  was  actually  passing  in  the  dreadful  island 
so  near. 


314  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

The  sea  ringed  the  Green  Island  round ;  the  white 
cold  winter  descended  upon  it ;  and,  while  the  wretched 
remnant  of  its  Protestant  inhabitants  from  all  parts  were 
gathered  in  stables  and  outhouses  about  Dublin,  or  on  other 
spots  of  its  eastern  fringe,  whence  they  could  gaze  across 
towards  the  mother-lands  and  call  to  them  for  help,  the 
spectres  of  the  murdered,  it  was  said,  haunted  the  interior 
desolation.  Take  this  fragment  from  the  deposition  after- 
wards made  by  "  Elizabeth,  the  wife  of  Captain  Eice  Price,  of 
Armagh,"  when  she  was  examined  on  oath  as  to  what  she 
had  seen  and  suffered  in  the  Insurrection.  "  She  and  other 
"  women  whose  husbands  were  murdered,  hearing  of  divers 
"  apparitions  and  visions  which  were  seen  near  Portadown 
"  Bridge  since  the  drowning  of  her  children  and  the  rest  of 
"  the  Protestants  there,  went  unto  the  Bridge  aforesaid  about 
"  twilight  in  the  evening,  and  then  and  there  on  a  sudden 
"  there  appeared  unto  them  a  vision  or  spirit,  assuming  the 
"  shape  of  a  woman,  naked,  with  elevated  and  closed  hands, 
"  her  hair  hanging  down,  very  white,  her  eyes  seeming  to 
"  twinkle,  and  her  skin  as  white  as  snow  ;  which  spirit 
"  seemed  to  stand  straight  upright  in  the  water,  often  re- 
"  peating  the  word  Revenge,  Revenge,  Revenge ;  whereat  this 
"  deponent  and  the  rest,  being  put  into  a  strong  amazement 
"  and  affright,  walked  from  the  place."  It  is  but  the  dis- 
ordered fancy  of  a  poor  bereaved  woman,  and  probably 
dressed  up  in  the  telling ;  but  the  historian  might  labour  long 
before  he  could  devise  a  more  exact  image  of  the  state  of 
Ireland  in  the  winter  of  1641—42,  as  it  appeared  to  the  Pro- 
testants of  Britain,  than  this  ghastly  one  of  the  naked  female 
figure  emerging  each  nightfall  from  the  pool  of  an  inland 
Irish  river,  stretching  up  clenched  hands  in  the  solitude,  and 
calling,  ere  she  sank,  Revenge,  Revenge,  Revenge  ! l 

1  For  summaries  of  the  facts  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland  upon  the  23rd  day 

Irish  Insurrection  see  Rushworth,  IV.  of  October,  1641,  published,  in  1646,  by 

398— 421  (in  reality,  with  extra  pages,  54  Sir  John  Temple,  Master  of  the  Rolls 

pages  in  all) ;  May,  79—87  ;  Clarendon,  in  Ireland.      See  Hallam's  Const.  Hist. 

120-121.      An  earlier  authority,  much  10th  ed.  III.  391—393,  and  notes,  for 

followed  by  these,  is  the  History  of  the  a  calm  estimate  of  the  degree  of  cre- 

Beginnings  and  First  Progress  of  the  dibility  belonging  to  the  original  ac- 

Greneral    Rebellion    raised    within    the  counts  of  the  massacres. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

AFTER    THE    RECESS,    OR    FIVE    MONTHS    OF    ABORTIVE    REACTION    (OCT. 

1641 — MARCH  1641-2): — THE  GRAND  REMONSTRANCE — TUMULTS 

IN  LONDON,  AND  ARCHBISHOP  WILLIAMS'S  BLUNDER CHARLES'S 

COUP  D'ETAT,  OR  ATTEMPTED  ARREST  OF  THE  FIVE  MEMBERS — HIS 
DEPARTURE  FROM  LONDON BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL  PASSED. 

WHEN  the  English  Parliament  met  again  after  the  Recess 
(Oct  20,  1641)  the  King  was  yet  in  Scotland.  The  Plague 
being  still  in  London,  and  the  mortality  considerable,1  the 
Houses  were  not  very  full  at  first.  The  Movement  party, 
however,  was  strong  enough  at  once  to  resume  action.  Pym 
had  taken  no  holiday  at  all,  but  had  remained  in  town,  or  at 
Chelsea,  all  through  the  Recess,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Vigilance  appointed  by  the  Commons.  He  was  never  in 
greater  force.  In  his  Report,  given  in  on  the  first  day,  of 
what  had  been  heard  and  done  by  the  Committee  during  the 
Recess,  he  struck,  though  cautiously,  a  note  of  alarm.  The 
news  from  Scotland  was  not  reassuring.  General  rumours  of 
TJie  Incident  had  reached  London  some  days  before,  and,  along 
with  these  rumours,  letters  from  Hampden,  Stapleton,  Fiennes, 
and  the  other  Parliamentary  Commissioners  attending  the 
King  at  Holyrood.  These  letters  conveyed  more  than  was 
meant  for  the  public  ear.  Whatever  suspicions  had  been 
entertained  before  of  some  unusual  motive  in  the  King's  visit 
to  Scotland  were  now  converted  into  positive  belief.  Was 
there  no  connexion  between  that  plot  against  Argyle  and 
Hamilton  in  Scotland,  which  had  happily  failed,  and  some 

1  Letter,  in  8.  P.  0.,  from  Thomas       Plague  in  the  city  in  the  preceding 
Wiseman  to  Admiral    Ponnin^tun,  of       week, 
date  Oct.  7,  reports  289  deaths  from 


316  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

similar  conspiracy  by  desperate  men  in  England  against  the 
Parliament  or  its  popular  chiefs  ?  If  Scotland  had  her 
Montroses,  Crawfords,  Cochranes,  and  the  like,  had  not 
England  her  Digbys,  her  Percys,  her  Wilmots,  and  army- 
men  of  still  wilder  character,  ready  for  anything ;  and  was 
it  so  sure  that  the  two  groups  were  not  in  correspondence  ? 
In  these  circumstances  what  could  the  two  Houses  do  but 
require  Essex,  as  commander-in-chief  for  the  King  south  of 
the  Trent,  to  do  as  Leslie  had  done  for  the  Scottish  Parlia- 
ment, and  give  them  a  guard  of  trained-bands  ?* 

RESUMED    ACTIVITY :     THE    GRAND    REMONSTRANCE. 

These  necessary  preliminaries  over,  the  Commons  took  up 
their  work  precisely  at  the  point  where  they  had  left  it  off. 
They  resumed  their  dealings  with  the  Lords  for  bringing  the 
thirteen  impeached  Bishops  to  trial,  again  demanding,  through 
Pym,  the  sequestration  of  those  Bishops  from  their  places  in 
the  Lords  till  their  trial  should  be  over.  Not  only  so ;  but, 
on  the  second  day  of  their  sittings  (Oct.  21),  they  introduced 
a  new  Bill  for  the  total  exclusion  of  Bishops  from  Parliament 
and  civil  offices,  in  lieu  of  the  former  Bill  which  the  Lords 
had  rejected.  This  new  Bill,  which  fixed  the  10th  of 
November  next  as  the  date  when  it  was  to  come  into  effect, 
passed  the  Commons  on  the  third  reading  on  the  23rd  of 
October,  and  was  on  the  same  day  sent  up  to  the  Lords, 
with  a  request  that  it  might  be  passed  there  with  all  speed, 
as  a  Bill  which  much  concerned  the  good  of  the  Common- 
wealth. The  Commons  also  insisted  that  all  the  Bishops 
without  exception  should  be  suspended  from  their  votes  on 
this  particular  Bill,  so  that  it  should  be  carried  by  the  votes 
of  the  lay  peers  alone.2 

Suddenly  into  the  midst  of  these  questions  there  came  a 
vast  and  horrible  interruption.  It  was  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber that  the  first  news  of  the  Irish  Insurrection  reached 
London  ;  and  for  many  days  men  could  think  of  nothing  else. 

i  Parl.    Hist.    II.   910—917  ;    Rush-  2  Commons  Journals  of  Oct.  21  and 

worth,  IV.  388  et  seq. ;  Clar.  Hist.  119  ;  Oct.  23  ;  Lords  Journals  of  Oct.  23  and 
Baillie,  I.  391—393.  Oct.  28 ;  Parl.  Hist.  II.  916,  917. 


1641.]  THE  GRAND  REMONSTRANCE.  317 

Not  at  first  was  the  worst  known ;  but  even  from  the  first 
enough  was  known.  One  can  see  yet,  in  the  discussions 
which  took  place  immediately  in  the  two  Houses,  and  in 
the  records  of  the  state  of  feeling  out  of  doors,  the  struggle 
between  two  passions  of  nearly  equal  strength.  There  was 
an  agony  of  desire,  on  the  one  hand,  to  send  help  to  the  Irish 
Protestants  and  put  down  the  insurrection ;  and  there  was  a 
dread,  on  the  other  hand,  lest  the  King  should,  in  our  modern 
phrase,  be  able  to  make  political  capital  out  of  the  emergency, 
by  converting  it  into  a  reason  for  raising  an  army,  ostensibly 
for  immediate  service  in  Ireland,  but  really  for  ulterior  ends. 
The  one  feeling  showed  itself  in  resolutions  for  raising  men 
and  money  in  certain  ways  as  soon  as  possible,  and  for  mean- 
while accepting  with  thanks  the  services  of  10,000  Scots, 
under  some  of  Leslie's  late  officers,  offered  for  Ireland  by 
the  Scottish  Parliament  For  the  Irish  calamity  was  being 
simultaneously  discussed  in  the  Scottish  Parliament,  in  the 
King's  own  presence  or  vicinity,  and  there,  owing  to  circum- 
stances, with  greater  power  to  come  to  a  practical  conclusion. 
The  Scots  could  easily  spare  for  Ireland  ten  thousand  of  their 
blue-bonnets  recently  disbanded  from  about  Newcastle  ;  but, 
as  Ireland  belonged  to  the  English  crown,  it  depended  on  the 
King  and  the  English  Parliament  to  say  whether  they  would 
accept  such  help.  The  King,  on  his  side,  demurred  about 
introducing  so  many  armed  Scots  into  what  was  a  purely 
English  dominion,  unless  there  were  to  be  in  the  field  an 
English  force  of  equal  or  greater  numbers,  and  officered  by 
himself.  To  what  use,  towards  a  counter-revolution  in 
England,  such  an  army  might  be  turned  could  not  escape  the 
popular  sagacity,  even  if  the  King's  intentions  at  the  moment 
were  taken  in  good  faith,  and  those  dark  suspicions  were  false 
which  supposed  that  the  King's  own  hand,  or  the  hand  of  the 
Queen  for  him,  might  be  detected  in  the  Irish  Insurrection. 
The  citizens  of  London  let  Parliament  know  that  they  would 
be  ready  with  loans  and  subscriptions  for  the  relief  of  their 
Iri-h  Protestant  brethren,  but  would  like  assurance  that  the 
application  of  the  moneys  and  the  conduct  of  the  enterprise 
should  be  in  the  right  hands.  But  the  Parliament's  own  in- 


318  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

structions,  in  letters  sent  by  both  Houses  to  their  envoys  with 
the  King  at  Edinburgh  (Nov.  10),  indicate  best  both  the  inten- 
sity and  the  complexity  of  the  emotions  of  the  time.  "  You 
"  shall  represent  to  his  Majesty,"  they  say,  "  this  our  humble 
"  and  faithful  declaration  that  we  cannot  without  much  grief 
"  remember  the  great  miseries,  burthens  and  distempers, 
"  which  have  for  divers  years  afflicted  all  his  kingdoms  and 
"  dominions,  and  brought  them  to  the  last  point  of  ruin  and 
"  destruction  ;  all  which  have  issued  from  the  cunning,  false, 
"  and  malicious  practices  of  some  of  those  who  have  been 
"  admitted  into  very  near  places  of  counsel  and  authority 
"  about  him."  They  went  on  to  attribute  even  the  Irish  In- 
surrection to  the  continued  influence  of  these  bad  counsellors, 
the  removal  of  whom  they  prayed  for ;  and  they  wound  up, 
almost  threateningly,  thus :  "  If  herein  his  Majesty  shall 
"  not  vouchsafe  to  condescend  to  our  humble  supplication, 
"  although  we  shall  always  continue,  with  reverence  and 
"  faithfulness  to  his  person  and  to  his  crown,  to  perform 
"  those  duties  of  service  and  obedience  to  which  by  the 
"  laws  of  God  and  this  kingdom  we  are  obliged,  yet  we  shall 
"  be  forced,  in  discharge  of  the  trust  we  owe  to  the  State  and 
"  those  whom  we  represent,  to  resolve  upon  some  such  way 
"  of  defending  Ireland  from  the  rebels  as  may  concur  to  the 
"  securing  ourselves  from  such  mischievous  counsels  and 
"  designs."  Here,  therefore,  there  were  two  new  develop- 
ments of  the  policy  of  the  party  of  movement.  There  was  to 
be  an  attack,  if  made  necessary  by  the  King's  conduct,  on  his 
present  "  evil  counsellors  " ;  and  there  was  to  be  some  assump- 
tion by  Parliament  of  that  power  of  the  Militia,  or  the  arming 
of  the  subject,  which  had  hitherto  been  in  the  King's  preroga- 
tive. The  Scottish  "  Incident "  had  awakened  them  to  the 
necessity  of  the  first ;  that  and  the  Irish  Insurrection  together 
had  suggested  the  second.  It  is  curious  to  observe,  however, 
that,  while  the  idea  of  a  blow  at  the  "  evil  counsellors  "  was 
Pym's,  the  suggestion  of  assuming  some  control  of  the  Army 
was  Cromwell's.  On  the  8th  of  November,  or  three  days 
before  the  date  of  the  above- quoted  instructions  to  the  English 
envoys  at  Edinburgh,  Cromwell  had  moved  that  the  Commons, 


1641.]  THE  GRAND  REMONSTRANCE.  319 

while  conferring  with  the  Lords  as  to  the  lesser  of  the 
instructions,  should  also  desire  them  "  that  an  ordinance  of 
Parliament  might  pass  to  give  the  Earl  of  Essex  power  to 
assemble,  at  all  times,  the  trained  bands  of  the  kingdom  on 
this  side  Trent."  One  sees  Pym  and  Cromwell  blended  in 
the  letter  to  Edinburgh.1 

Meanwhile  the  roused  state  of  feeling  in  the  Commons 
had  taken  a  form  of  expression  singularly  large  and  unprac- 
tical, as  one  might  suppose  now  on  a  hasty  view,  but  the 
practical  importance  of  which  at  the  time  is  vouched  for  by 
the  fact  that  men  like  Pym,  Hampden,  and  Cromwell  threw 
their  whole  strength  into  it,  and  that  the  chiefs  of  the  con- 
servative opposition,  including  Hyde,  Falkland  and  Cole- 
pepper,  made  equal  exertions  to  secure  its  defeat.  The 
Movement  party  had  resolved  on  a  great  pitched  battle 
between  them  and  the  opposition,  which  should  try  their 
relative  strengths  before  the  King's  return ;  and  they  chose 
to  fight  this  battle  over  a  vast  document,  which  they  entitled 
"  A  Declaration  and  Remonstrance  of  the  State  of  the  King- 
dom," but  which  has  come  to  be  known  since  as  Tlie  Grand 
Bemonstrance.  Of  this  document,  and  the  debates  upon  it, 
a  summary  account  is  sufficient  here.2 

The  notion  of  a  great  general  document  which,  under  the 
name  of  "  A  Remonstrance,"  should  present  to  the  King  in 
one  view  a  survey  of  the  principal  evils  that  had  crept  into 
the  kingdom  in  his  own  and  preceding  reigns,  with  a  detection 
of  their  causes  and  a  specification  of  the  remedies,  had  more 
than  once  been  before  the  Commons.  It  had  been  first 
mooted  by  Lord  Digby  while  the  Parliament  was  not  a  week 
old.  Again  and  again  set  aside  for  more  immediate  work,  it 
had  recurred  to  the  leaders  of  the  Movement  party,  just  before 

»  Rushworth,  IV.  389  et  ttq. ;  Parl.  ond   accumulates  all  the  information 

Hist.    II.   927  —  936;    Baillio,    I.   396,  about  it  that  contemporary  document* 

•rater's  Grand  Remonstrance,  pp.  can  be  made  to  yield.      But,  as  Mr. 

198,  199.  Pointer  takes  the  (J  mud  Remonstrance  M 

*  See  Mr.  Pointer's  historical  mono-  a  central  incident,  and  goes  back  into 

^r i ph.    entitled     The    Debate*   on    the  its  causes,  and  follows  it  into  its  con- 

Remonstrance  (I860),— an  admir-  nexions,  his  book  is  an  excellent  contri- 

able  sjKJcimenof  th.it  kiinl  «.f  History  Imtion  to  the  general   history  of  the 

Whir!  ',<irti..M,    «T 

say  one  month.  c.\i 


320  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  King's  departure  for  Scotland,  as  likely  to  afford  the 
broad  extent  of  battle-ground  then  becoming  desirable.  "  A 
"  Eemonstrance  to  be  made,  how  we  found  the  Kingdom  and 
"  the  Church,  and  how  the  state  of  it  now  stands,"  such  was 
the  description  of  the  then  intended  document  (Aug.  7). 
The  document  had  doubtless  been  in  rehearsal  through  the 
Eecess,  for  on  the  8th  of  November  the  rough  draft  of  it  was 
presented  to  the  House  and  read  at  the  clerk's  table.  When 
we  say  that  the  document  in  its  final  form  occupies  thirteen 
folio  pages  of  rather  close  print  in  Eushworth,  and  consists 
of  a  preamble  followed  by  206  articles  or  paragraphs,  duly 
numbered,  one  can  conceive  what  a  task  the  reading  of 
even  the  first  draft  of  it  must  have  been,  and  through  what 
a  storm  of  successive  debates  over  proposed  amendments 
and  additions  it  reached  completeness.  There  had  been  no 
such  debates  yet  in  the  Parliament.  The  movers,  though 
proposing  the  document  for  the  King's  edification,  foresaw 
that,  in  its  printed  form,  it  would  be  an  appeal  to  the 
country  and  a  manifesto  to  all  Europe ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Opposition  were  roused  to  the  most  strenuous 
resistance  by  earnest  instructions  from  the  King,  sent 
through  the  faithful  Mr.  Nicholas.  There  were  debates  on 
Nov.  9,  Nov.  10,  Nov.  12,  Nov.  15,  Nov.  16,  Nov.  19,  and 
Nov.  20.  Among  the  earliest  speakers  on  the  one  side  were 
Cromwell,  Strode,  Whitlocke,  and  Sir  John  Clotworthy,  and 
on  the  other  Mr.  Geoffrey  Palmer,  Falkland,  Hyde,  and  Sir 
Edward  Deering.  At  length,  on  Saturday  Nov.  20,  the 
Eemonstrance,  having  been  fought  through  inch  by  inch, 
and  clause  by  clause,  was  ready,  as  it  seemed,  for  the  final  vote. 
The  King  being  then  on  his  way  from  Scotland,  the  movers 
were  urgent  that  it  should  be  read  and  finished  that  night ; 
but  this  was  met  by  such  resolute  opposition  that  Pym 
yielded,  and  it  was  put  off  till  Monday.  As  the  members 
were  leaving  the  House,  Clarendon  tells  us,  Oliver  Cromwell 
asked  Falkland  why  he  and  his  party  wanted  the  adjournment 
when  the  matter  might  have  been  ended  at  that  sitting.  On 
Falkland's  replying  that  there  would  surely  be  some  debate 
on  it  yet,  Cromwell  answered,  "  A  very  sorry  one."  But  on 


1641.]  THE  GRAND  REMONSTRAN-  321 

the  Monday  (Nov.  22)  Falkland  proved  to  be  right.  On  that 
day  there  were  no  fewer  than  four  divisions,  each  preceded 
by  a  debate.  Among  the  speakers  against  were  Hyde, 
Falkland,  Deering,  Rudyard,  Bagshaw,  Colepepper,  Orlando 
Bridgman,  Edmund  Waller  the  poet,  Mr.  Coventry,  and 
Geoffrey  Palmer ;  the  burden  of  replying  to  whom  rested 
chiefly  on  Pym,  Hampden,  Denzil  Holies,  Glynn,  and  May- 
nard.  Very  rarely  did  the  House  in  those  days,  meeting  as  it 
did  at  eight  or  ten  in  the  morning,  sit  far  into  the  afternoon  ; 
and  the  bringing  in  of  candles  was  an  exceptional  occurrence, 
requiring  a  special  order.  But  on  this  occasion  candles  were 
brought  in,  and  on  and  on  the  House  sat,  as  if  it  would  never 
rise.  It  was  past  midnight  before  the  question  on  the  third 
division  was  put ;  that  question  being  "  Whether  this  De- 
claration, so  amended,  shall  pass  ? "  The  votes  were  Ayes 
159,  Noes  148,  giving  a  majority  of  1 1  for  the  Remonstrance 
in  what  was,  at  this  period  of  the  Long  Parliament,  a  full 
House.  But  then  ensued  a  tremendous  scene.  Mr.  Peard, 
member  for  Barnstaple  (and  not,  as  Clarendon  states,  Hamp- 
den), having  moved  the  printing  of  the  Remonstrance,  the 
Opposition,  though  such  a  sequel  to  the  former  vote  had  been 
presupposed  all  along,  made  another  stand.  It  was  uncon- 
stitutional, Hyde  and  Colepepper  argued,  for  the  Commons  to 
proceed  to  printing  any  debate  or  determination  of  their  House 
not  first  transmitted  regularly  to  the  Lords  ;  and,  were  the  mo- 
tion persisted  in,  they  should  ask  leave  to  enter  their  protests. 
This  notion  of  protesting,  which  the  Opposition  had  reserved 
to  the  last,  was  a  novelty.  It  was  customary  in  the  Lords 
for  a  minority,  or  for  any  members  of  it,  to  have  their  names 
registered  as  protesting  against  a  decision  of  the  House ;  but 
in  the  Commons  it  was  not  the  practice,  and  the  consequences 
were  at  once  apparent  of  allowing  it  in  this  case,  and  so 
letting  a  list  of  names  go  forth  to  the  country  that  should 
represent  a  formal  league  banded  against  the  rest  of  the 
House.  Nevertheless,  the  majority  would  probably  have  been 
satisfied  with  reserving  the  question  of  the  right  to  protest 
for  another  day's  discussion,  but  for  the  imprudence  of 
Geoffrey  Palmer,  who,  rising  to  express  his  own  wish,  as  one 
VOL.  II  Y 


322  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  the  minority,  that  such  a  day  might  be  at  once  fixed, 
moved  meanwhile  that  the  Clerk  should  take  down  the 
names  of  all  who  desired  to  avail  themselves  of  this  claim. 
"  All !  All ! "  was  the  cry  that  burst  from  the  excited  Opposi- 
tion ;  "  and  some,"  says  D'Ewes,  "  waved  their  hats  over  their 
"  heads,  and  others  took  their  swords  in  their  scabbards  out 
"  of  their  belts,  and  held  them  by  the  pommels  in  their  hands, 
"  setting  the  lower  part  on  the  ground."  Carried  beyond  him- 
self by  this  enthusiastic  uproar,  Palmer  cried  out  that  he  did 
then  and  there  protest,  for  himself  and  all  the  rest.  On  both 
sides  now  there  was  the  wildest  excitement.  Sir  Philip 
Warwick,  remembering  the  scene  afterwards,  thought  they 
would  all  have  sat  that  morning  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow 
of  Death,  for,  like  Joab's  and  Abner's  young  men,  representing 
opposite  sides  by  the  pool  of  Gibeon  (1  Sam.  ii.  12-16),  "  they 
would  have  catched  at  each  other's  locks  and  sheathed  their 
swords  in  each  other's  bowels."  It  was  thought  that  only  the 
great  presence  of  mind  of  Hampden,  shown  in  a  few  calm 
words  that  turned  the  thoughts  of  all  into  a  new  channel, 
prevented  bloodshed.  The  motion  for  immediate  printing 
was  waived  by  the  majority,  and  was  converted  into  a  motion 
that  the  Eemonstrance  should  not  be  printed  without  the 
particular  order  of  the  House.  But,  Hyde's  party  trying 
to  extend  this  into  a  prohibition  of  "  publishing "  as  well 
as  "  printing,"  there  was  the  fourth  division  of  the  day,  de- 
feating Hyde's  party  again  by  124  votes  against  101.  The 
clocks  were  striking  two  in  the  morning  as  the  House  broke 
up.  "  As  they  went  out,"  says  Clarendon,  "  the  lord  Falkland 
"  asked  Oliver  Cromwell  whether  there  had  been  a  debate ; 
"  to  which  he  answered  that  he  would  '  take  his  word  another 
"  '  time,'  and  whispered  him  in  the  ear,  with  some  asseveration, 
"  '  that,  if  the  Kemonstrance  had  been  rejected,  he  would  have 
"  '  sold  all  he  had  the  next  morning,  and  never  have  seen 
"  '  England  more,  and  he  knew  there  were  many  other  honest 
"  '  men  of  the  same  resolution.'  "  l 


i  Commons  Journals  of  Nov.  20  arid  Hist.  124,  125 ;  but,  above  all,  Mr. 
22 ;  Parl.  Hist.  II.  937—963  ;  Whit-  Forster's  Grand  Remonstrance,  where 
locke's  Memorials,  I.  148  ;  Clarendon,  many  details  are  given. 


1641.]  THE  GRAND  REMONSTRANCE.  323 

While  the  Commons  were  still  occupied  with  various  odds 
and  ends  arising  out  of  the  great  debates  of  that  Monday, 
the  King  was  back  in  London.  Coming  from  Theobalds  by 
coach,  with  the  Queen,  the  royal  children,  and  a  great  attend- 
ance of  lords,  he  reached  the  City  by  Moorgate  on  Thursday 
Nov.  25.  His  reception  was  unusually  gorgeous  and  en- 
thusiastic; for  Gurney,  the  Lord  Mayor  (knighted  on  the 
occasion,  with  five  Aldermen  and  two  Sheriffs),  was  an 
especially  loyal  person,  and  the  people  were  really  glad  to 
see  their  King  again  after  his  eleven  weeks  among  the  Picts. 
The  ride  from  Moorgate  to  Guildhall  was  a  long  and  tri- 
umphant procession;  at  Guildhall  there  was  a  feast  for  hours; 
and  from  Guildhall  to  Whitehall  there  was  again  a  procession, 
but  by  torchlight,  through  the  cheering  crowds  that  lined  the 
streets.  Poetry,  in  Latin  and  English,  abounded  on  the 
occasion ;  and  the  City-poet  furnished  his  special  copy  of 
verses.  In  this  piece,  London,  exulting  in  the  recovery  of 
the  King,  begs  him  never  to  go  away  again  : — 

"  But  go  no  more !     Leave  me  no  more  with  fears 
And  loyal  grief,  to  spend  my  Thames  in  tears  ! 
Your  next  return  may  some  due  honour  miss  : 
I  shall  not  then  have  done  my  joy  for  this." l 

This  enthusiastic  reception  of  Charles  by  the  Londoners 
seems  to  have  confirmed  him  in  a  notion  which  he  had 
formed  while  in  Scotland.  His  visit  to  Scotland,  indeed, 
had  not  turned  out  quite  as  he  may  have  hoped.  Instead  of 
seeing  any  such  upturning  of  the  Argyle  supremacy,  and  any 
such  re-settling  of  his  own  authority  on  another  basis,  as 
Montrose  and  the  other  members  of  the  Merchiston  House 
Compact  had  conceived  possible,  he  had  been  obliged  to 
leave  the  Presbyterian  chiefs,  Argyle,  Loudoun,  Leslie,  and 
Johnstone  of  Warriston,  in  full  possession,  and  not  only 
in  full  possession,  but  decorated,  and  recommended  to  their 
countrymen  by  his  own  royal  approbation.  Still  he  had 
extracted  some  secret  hope  from  his  Scottish  visit  He 
had  become  better  aware  of  smouldering  elements  there  that 

i  RiMhworth,  IV.  429—434. 


324  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

he  might  trust  to  in  the  future ;  and  he  had  collected 
information  that  might  burst  on  some  people's  heads  in  the 
English  Parliament  when  they  least  expected  it.  His  spirits 
had  clearly  risen  with  his  prospect ;  and  he  had  even  ventured, 
before  leaving  Edinburgh,  to  give  the  Koot-and-Branch  party 
in  England  a  foretaste  of  his  determination  never  to  accept 
their  policy. 

On  reverting  to  our  list  of  the  spiritual  Peers  or  Episcopal 
Bench  at  the  opening  of  the  Parliament  (antt,  pp.  150,  151), 
in  which  list  the  vacancies  by  death  in  that  Bench  are  noted 
on  to  the  end  of  April  1641,  it  will  be  seen  that  by  the  end 
of  that  month  there  were  four  such  vacancies.  The  Arch- 
bishopric of  York  was  vacant,  by  the  death  of  Neile,  since 
Oct.  31, 1640,  or  four  days  before  the  opening  of  Parliament ; 
and  the  Bishoprics  of  Oxford,  Norwich,  and  Salisbury  were 
vacant  by  the  deaths  of  Bancroft,  Montague,  and  Davenant 
in  February  1640-1  and  April  1641.  To  these  four  vacan- 
cies a  fifth  had  been  added  by  the  death  of  Thornborough, 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  July  19,  1641.  That  the  vacancies 
had  remained  so  long  unfilled, — the  Archbishopric  of  York  for 
more  than  a  year,  and  that  when,  by  Laud's  imprisonment, 
England  was  left  virtually  without  an  Archbishop  at  all, — was 
a  striking  indication  of  the  state  of  feeling  on  the  Church  ques- 
tion and  of  the  King's  compulsory  deference  to  that  state  of 
feeling.  Imagine,  then,  the  surprise  when  the  news  had  come 
from  Scotland  that  the  King  was  at  last  bent  on  filling  up  those 
vacancies.  What !  at  a  time  when  the  very  question  of  the 
future  existence  of  Bishops  at  all  in  England  was  vehemently 
in  debate  ?  And  from  Scotland  too  ?  That  the  King  should 
take  the  opportunity  of  his  absence  from  England  at  all  to 
make  the  appointments  was  unpleasant ;  but  that  he  should 
do  so  from  Presbyterian  Edinburgh !  It  was  more  than  an 
insult ;  it  was  a  sarcasm.  It  was  as  if  the  King,  while  giving 
Alexander  Henderson  his  hand  to  kiss,  had  winked  his  royal 
eye  over  that  reverend  Presbyter's  back.  In  short,  there  had 
been  remonstrances  from  the  English  Commons  on  the  sub- 
ject with  the  King  in  Edinburgh,  and  Oliver  Cromwell  had 
carried  a  motion,  by  a  majority  of  eighteen,  for  a  conference 


1641.]  TII K  <;I:AM»  KKMONSTRANCE.  325 

with  the  Lords  to  desire  them  to  join  in  a  petition  for  stopping 
the  investiture  of  the  intended  new  Bishops  (Oct.  29).  The 
King,  however,  had  persevered,  and  either  before  his  leaving 
Edinburgh,  or  within  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  vacant  sees 
were  actually  filled  up.  To  the  ArchbisJwpric  of  York  was 
appointed  (Dec.  4)  our  old  friend  Williams,  so  long  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  that  it  was  difficult  for  his  contemporaries  to  give 
him  his  new  title.  Hall,  so  long  Bishop  of  Exeter,  was  made 
Bishop  of  Norwich  (Nov.  15);  Dr.  John  Prideaux,  Canon  of 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  was  raised  to  the  Bishopric  of  Wor- 
cester (Nov.  22) ;  Skinner,  Bishop  of  Bristol,  was  translated 
to  Oxford  (Nov.  29) ;  and  Duppa,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  was 
translated  to  Salisbury  (Dec.  11).  Against  Williams's  pro- 
motion to  the  Archbishopric,  if  it  were  to  be  filled  up  at  all, 
nothing  could  be  said,  save  that  Williams,  in  taking  it,  had 
parted  with  his  popularity.  But  two  of  the  other  four,  viz. 
Hall  and  Skinner,  were  among  the  thirteen  Bishops  whose 
impeachment  for  misdemeanour  in  the  Convocation  of  1640 
was  then  before  the  Lords ;  and  Hall,  despite  all  the  former 
respect  for  him,  was  now  the  most  conspicuous  champion  of 
High  Church  Episcopacy.  It  was  an  aggravation  also  that, 
by  the  arrangements  made,  four  vacant  sees  remained,  to 
which  there  might  at  any  time  be  new  appointments. 
Williams's  late  see  of  Lincoln  remained  vacant,  with  Hall's 
of  Exeter,  Skinner's  of  Bristol,  and  Duppa's  of  Chichester.1 

This  appointment  of  the  new  Bishops  was  not  the  sole 
exhibition  of  the  King's  revived  mood  of  majesty  at  the 
time  of  his  return  from  the  north.  He  insisted  on  dis- 
missing the  armed  guard  which  Essex  had  set  round  the  two 
Houses.  Such  a  guard  was  unnecessary  ;  he  would  himself 
give  them  a  guard.2  In  various  minor  matters  he  was  politely 
obstinate. 

In  the  matter  of  the  Grand  Remonstrance,  however, 
which  had  so  grievously  galled  him,  Charles  was  unusually 
gracious.  On  the  1st  of  December,  or  six  days  after  his 
return,  he  received,  at  Hampton  Court  Palace,  the  deputation 

i  Common*  Journal*,  Oct.  29;  Pftrl.       AMMMfrwuy,    195;  Le   NOVO'B  Fatti. 
Hist.    II.    924,   925;  Forater's   Grand          «  Purl.  Hint.  II.  940,  941. 


326  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

from  the  Commons  appointed  to  present  the  terrible  docu- 
ment, together  with  a  shorter  Petition  that  had  been  drawn 
up  to  introduce  it.  The  deputation,  as  named  by  the  Com- 
mons, consisted  of  twelve  members,  chosen  from  both  sides  : 
Sir  Edward  Deering,  Sir  Kalph  Hopton,  Lord  Fairfax,  Lord 
Grey  of  Groby,  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes,  Sir  Arthur  Ingram,  Sir 
James  Thynne,  Sir  Christopher  Wray,  Sir  Eichard  Wynn,  Sir 
John  Corbet,  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  and  Mr.  H.  Bellasis.  For  his 
silver  voice  and  for  other  reasons,  Deering  was  to  act  as  spokes- 
man. But,  though  this  was  a  tempting  opportunity,  Deering 
thought  it  better  to  be  absent,  and  the  duty  of  presenting  the 
Petition  and  Remonstrance  devolved  on  Sir  Kalph  Hopton. 
The  deputation  began  the  interview  on  their  knees,  but  his 
Majesty  raised  them.  Only  the  Petition  was  read,  the  more 
unwieldy  Remonstrance  being  left  for  his  Majesty's  private 
perusal.  Once  or  twice,  as  the  petition  was  being  read,  his 
Majesty  interjected  a  brisk  remark.  Thus,  after  a  passage 
about  malignant  persons  having  a  design  to  change  the 
established  religion,  "  The  Devil  take  him,  whosoever  he  may 
be !"  said  the  King,  He  gave  the  deputation  his  hand  to 
kiss,  and  committed  them  to  the  Comptroller,  who  had 
good  cheer  waiting  for  them ;  but,  "  owing  to  the  weighti- 
ness  of  the  business,"  he  put  off  his  answer.  He  seemed 
extremely  anxious,  however,  that  the  Commons  should  not 
print  the  Remonstrance  till  they  had  received  the  answer, 
and  he  would  fain  have  had  some  assurance  from  Hopton  on 
this  point.  Hopton  could  give  him  none.  And  so  the 
Remonstrance,  of  which  he,  doubtless,  had  a  copy  already,  was 
left  with  his  Majesty.1  It  is  a  document  worth  reading 
through  yet.2  I  will  select  one  or  two  paragraphs,  and  mark 
in  italics  one  or  two  passages  in  these  to  which  the  reader 
ought  to  pay  attention : — 

"181.  And  now  what  hope  have  we  but  in  God,  whenas  the 
only  means  of  our  subsistence,  and  power  of  reformation,  is,  under 
Him,  in  the  Parliament  1 

1  Parl.    Hist.    II.    942—944 ;  Rush-  complete  in  Parl.   Hist.   II.   943—963 ; 
worth,  IV.  436—451 ;  Forster's  Grand  Rushworth,  IV.  438—451 ;  and  Rapin, 
Remonstrance,  366-372.  II.  388—397. 

2  See  the  petition  and  Remonstrance 


1641.]  THE  GKAND  REMONSTRANCE.  327 

"  182.  But  what  can  we,  the  Commons,  without  the  conjunction 
of  the  House  of  Lords  ?  and  what  conjunction  can  we  expect  there, 
when  the  Bishops  and  the  Recusant  Lords  are  so  numerous  and 
prevalent  that  they  are  able  to  cross  and  interrupt  our  best  endea- 
vours for  Reformation,  and  by  that  means  give  advantage  to  this 
malignant  party  to  traduce  our  proceedings  1 

"  183.  They  infuse  into  the  people  that  we  mean  to  abolish  all 
Church  Government,  and  leave  every  man  to  his  own  fancy  for  the 
service  and  worship  of  God,  absolving  him  of  that  obedience  which 
he  owes,  under  God,  to  his  Majesty;  whom  we  know  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  ecclesiastical  law  as  well  as  with  the  temporal, 
to  regulate  all  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  by  such 
rules  of  order  and  discipline  as  are  established  by  Parliament, 
which  is  the  Great  Council  in  all  of  airs,  both  of  Church  and  State. 

"  184.  We  confess  our  intention  is,  and  our  endeavours  have  been, 
to  reduce  within  bounds  that  exorbitant  power  which  the  Prelates 
have  assumed  unto  themselves,  so  contrary  both  to  the  Word 
of  God  and  to  the  Laws  of  the  Land ;  to  which  end  we  passed  the 
Bill  for  removing  them  from  their  temporal  power  and  employments, 
that  so  the  better  they  might  with  meekness  apply  themselves  to 
the  discharge  of  their  functions;  which  Bill  themselves  opposed, 
and  were  the  principal  instruments  of  crossing  it. 

"  185.  And  we  do  here  declare  that  it  is  far  from  our  pur- 
pose  or  desire  to  let  loose  the  golden  reins  of  Discipline  ami  Govern- 
ment in  the  Church,  to  leave  private  persons  or  particular  congregations 
to  take  up  what  form  of  Divine  Service  they  please  ;  for  we  hold  it 
requisite  that  there  should  be  throughout  tJie  whole  realm  a  conformity 
to  that  order  which  the  Laws  enjoin\  according  to  the  Word  of  God. 
And  we  desire  to  unburthen  the  consciences  of  men  of  needless 
and  superstitious  ceremonies,  suppress  innovations,  and  take  away 
the  monuments  of  idolatry. 

"  186.  And,  the  better  to  effect  the  intended  Reformation,  we 
desire  there  may  be  a  General  Synod  of  the  most  grave,  pious,  learned, 
and  judicious  Divines  of  this  Island,  assisted  by  some  from  foreign 
parts  professing  the  same  Religion  with  us,  who  may  consider  of  all 
things  necessary  for  the  peace  and  good  government  of  the  Church, 
and  represent  the  results  of  their  consultations  to  Parliament,  to  be 
there  allowed  and  confirmed,  and  receive  the  stamp  of  authority, 
thereby  to  find  passage  and  obedience  throughout  the  kingdom." 

The  day  after  the  presentation  x>f  the  Petition  and  Grand 
Remonstrance  (Dec.  2)  the  King,  coming  to  Parliament  for 
the  first  time  since  his  return,  complained  of  the  want  of 
confidence  in  him,  and  especially  of  dilatoriness  in  the  Irish 
business.1  Accordingly,  for  the  next  fortnight  the  Irish 

>  King's  Speech:  Parl.  Hut.  II.  066,  967. 


328  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Insurrection  occupied  both  Houses.  Not  the  less  at  the 
same  time  were  the  Commons  busy  with  other  discussions. 
They  discussed  the  necessity  of  another  guard  than  that 
which  the  King  was  willing  to  give  them.  They  occupied 
themselves  with  inquiries  into  late  Army-plots,  with  the 
project  of  a  Bill  for  settling  the  Militia  of  the  kingdom,  and 
with  complaints  of  that  obstructiveness  of  the  Lords  which, 
experienced  all  along,  had  become  exasperating  now.  Daily 
there  were  skirmishes  between  Hyde,  Falkland,  Colepepper, 
and  others  of  that  side,  and  Pym,  Strode,  Haselrig,  and 
other  members  of  the  majority.  Out  of  doors,  too,  the  state 
of  matters  was  critical.  The  King  was  in  error  if  he  ima- 
gined that  his  enthusiastic  reception  on  his  return  implied 
acquiescence  in  whatever  he  might  do.  Though  Gurney  was 
mayor,  almost  all  London,  from  the  wealthiest  merchants 
down  to  the  prentices,  were  with  the  Parliament.  Cries  of 
"  No  Bishops ! "  "  No  Popish  Lords ! "  were  heard  in  the 
streets,  and  surgings  of  rough-looking  crowds  towards  West- 
minster began  to  be  frequent.  A  monster  petition  from  the 
City,  complaining  of  the  delay  in  the  question  of  Bishops' 
votes  and  the  obstruction  of  the  Peers,  was  brought  to  the 
Commons,  Dec.  11,  by  twelve  leading  citizens,  introduced 
by  Alderman  Pennington.  It  measured  twenty-four  yards 
in  length,  and  contained  about  15,000  names.1 

Any  blunder  on  either  side  might  now  give  the  other  an 
advantage.  As  Pym  never  blundered,  it  was  easy  to  know 
who  would.  On  Friday  the  14th  of  December  the  King  came 
again  to  the  Lords,  the  Commons  being  summoned  to  meet 
him.  They  were  still  too  slow,  he  told  them,  in  the  pressing 
business  of  relief  for  Ireland.  Then,  adverting  particularly 
to  a  Bill  for  pressing  soldiers  for  Ireland  which  had  passed 
the  Commons  and  was  before  the  Lords,  he  was  incautious 
enough  to  say  he  would  pass  the  Bill  if  it  answered  his  notions 
of  prerogative,  and  to  recommend  that,  for  this  purpose,  it 
should  take  such  and  such  a  form.  Hardly  was  the  King's 
back  turned  when  the  two  Houses  were  in  flame  over  this 

1  Parl.  Hist.  II.  967,  968  ;  Forster's  Grand  Remonstrance,  372—399. 


1  »;il.|  THE  GRAND  RKMONSTKAN  329 

breach  of  the  privileges  of  Parliament  Resolutions  were 
passed  by  both  Houses  condemning  the  act  (for  in  so  flagrant 
a  case  the  Lords  had  no  option) ;  and  these  resolutions  were 
embodied  two  days  afterwards  (Dec.  16)  in  a  Petitionary 
Remonstrance  to  be  presented  to  the  King.  It  was  pre- 
sented by  a  larur»'  'Imputation  of  Lords  and  Commons,  with 
the  new  Archbishop  of  York  at  their  head.1 

Meanwhile  (Dec.  14)  the  Commons  had  ordered,  by  a 
majority  of  135  to  83,  the  printing  of  their  grand  Petition  and 
Remonstrance,  which  the  King  had  not  yet  answered.  His 
answer,  so  called  forth,  followed  as  speedily  as  possible.  It 
can  hardly  have  been  satisfactory  to  most.  Here,  for  example, 
was  his  Majesty's  reply  to  the  Commons  on  the  subject  of 
the  Parliamentary  power  of  Bishops  :  "  For  depriving  of  the 
"  Bishops  of  their  votes  in  Parliament,  we  would  have  you 
"  consider  that  their  right  is  grounded  upon  the  fundamental 
"  law  of  the  kingdom  and  constitution  of  Parliament.  This 
"  we  would  have  you  consider ;  but,  since  you  desire  our  con- 
"  currence  herein  in  a  Parliamentary  way,  we  will  give  you 
"  no  further  answer  at  this  time."  On  the  general  subject  of 
Church  Reform  he  was  even  less  complaisant.  He  was  not 
unwilling  "  to  call  a  National  Synod  "  if  the  Parliament  so 
advised,  but  was  sorry  to  hear  there  was  so  much  work  for 
such  a  Synod,  inasmuch  as  he  was  persuaded  there  was  not 
a  purer  Church  on  earth  than  the  Church  of  England  at  that 
time.  This  purity  he  was  resolved,  while  he  lived,  to  maintain, 
"  not  only  against  all  invasions  of  Popery,  but  also  from  the 
"  irreverence  of  those  many  Schismatics  and  Separatists 
"  wherewith  of  late  this  kingdom  and  this  city  abounds." 
These  passages  occurred  in  the  answer  to  the  Petition 
accompanying  the  Remonstrance ;  but  in  the  answer  to  the 
Remonstrance  itself  there  was  this  sentence:  "We  cannot 
"  without  grief  of  heart,  and  without  some  tax  upon  our- 

»  Clarendon  distinctly  says  that  it  face  of  the  fact  that  the  Parliament 
was  Solicitor-General  St.  John  that  ad-  requested  the  King  to  name  hia  ad- 
vised the  King  to  the  imprudent  act  of  risers.     It  would  have  been  with  glou, 
interfering  with  a   Bill   while    it  was  Mr.  Forstor  thinks,  that  ho  would  have 
<  m  Parliament.      Mr.   Forster  named  St.  John.     Mr.  Forstor  boliovos 
'    Remonstrance,    p.    400,    note)  that  Colepoppor  and  Hyde  himself  wore 
thinks  this  a  strange  assertion  in  the  the  persons  stwpoctod  at  the  time. 


330  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  self  and  our  Ministers  for  the  not  executing  of  our  laws, 
"  look  upon  the  bold  licence  of  some  men  in  printing  of 
"  pamphlets,  in  preaching  and  printing  of  sermons,  so  full  of 
"  bitterness  and  malice  against  the  present  Government  and 
"  the  laws  established."  Milton  and  the  Smectymnuans, 
among  others,  might  lay  these  words  to  heart.1 


TUMULTS    IN    LONDON  :     ARCHBISHOP    WILLIAMS'S    BLUNDER. 

The  last  fortnight  of  December  1641,  and  especially  the 
Christmas  week,  was  a  time  of  tumult  in  London.  It  was  a 
season  of  stormy  weather  at  sea  and  on  land,  ending  towards 
Christmas  in  severe  frost  and  snow.  The  populace  were  bois- 
terous in  the  streets,  mobbing  up  from  the  city  through  wind 
and  snow  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Westminster  Hall.  There 
were  also  meetings  at  night  in  Southwark  and  elsewhere.  For 
the  crisis  was  becoming  desperate.  In  the  matter  of  the 
breach  of  Parliamentary  'privilege  on  the  1 4th,  indeed,  the 
King  had  become  decidedly  apologetic.  The  Lords  were 
necessarily  with  the  Commons  in  that  matter,  and  he  had  seen 
his  error.  But  was  it  true  that  he  had  removed  Sir  William 
Balfour  from  his  post  of  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower, — removed 
the  trusty  Balfour,  and  appointed  in  his  stead  the  notorious 
Colonel  Lunsford  ? 2  It  was  too  true.  The  rumour  ran  through 
the  city  on  the  22nd;  and  on  subsequent  days  there  were 
debates  in  the  Commons  on  the  subject,  with  an  agreement  to 
remonstrate  with  the  King.  In  this,  however,  the  Lords,  on 
the  ground  that  the  Tower  was  wholly  in  his  Majesty's  hands, 
refused  to  concur,  though  twenty-two  lords  protested  against 
the  refusal.  Every  one  saw  that  the  appointment  of  Lunsford 
had  a  meaning,  and  it  was  dreadful  to  speculate  what  the 
meaning  might  be.  So  violent  was  the  feeling  on  the  subject 
that,  within  a  day  or  two,  the  King  cancelled  the  appointment, 

1  Parl.  Hist.  II.  968 — 979 ;  and  Rapin,  Lunsford  given  by  some  Common  Coun- 
II.  398 — 400.  oilmen  and  other  citizens  of  London  in 

2  "  A  man  outlawed  and  most  notori-  a  petition  to  the  Commons, 
ous  for  outrages  "  is  the  description  of 


1641.]  TUMULTS  IN  LONDON.  331 

giving  Lunsford  a  knighthood  and  500/.  in  compensation, 
and  appointing  Sir  John  Byron  in  his  room.  The  concession 
was  too  late,  even  had  Byron  been  a  popular  substitute  for 
Lunsford.  Christmas  that  year  fell  on  a  Saturday.  On 
Monday  the  27th, — Boxing-day,  as  the  Londoners  call  it 
now,  and  perhaps  called  it  then, — greater  crowds  of  citizens 
and  prentices  than  ever  were  gathered  round  the  two  Houses 
in  Westminster,  blocking  up  the  narrow  streets  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. As,  for  several  days,  there  had  been  alarm  at  such 
gatherings,  Whitehall  was  guarded,  and  inside  were  many 
King's  officers  (Cavaliers,  as  they  began  about  this  time  to  be 
called)  looking  out  on  the  mob  with  no  goodwill.  Jeers 
passed,  taunts  between  the  mob  and  the  soldiers,  till  at  last 
the  hot-blooded  officers  sallied  out  with  their  swords,  and 
cut  and  slashed.  There  were  similar  scenes  round  the  two 
Houses  and  about  the  doors  of  the  Abbey,  but  especially  in 
Westminster  Hall,  which  was  the  chief  access  to  the  Houses, 
and  where  the  shops  and  booths,  then  permitted  there,  had 
been  shut  up  by  their  proprietors  in  terror.1 

The  hero  of  one  of  those  scenes  was  no  other  than  Arch- 
bishop Williams.  He  had  been  Archbishop  of  York,  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  for  little  more  than  three  weeks, — a  short 
time  to  have  enjoyed  the  dignity  of  being  the  only  Archbishop 
in  the  House  of  Peers,  and  therefore  virtually  the  first  man 
there.2  Never  favourable  to  an  extreme  limitation  of  the 
power  of  Bishops,  and  having  indeed,  in  his  own  draft-scheme 
of  a  new  constitution  for  the  Church,  expressly  reserved  for 
the  Bishops  their  seats  in  the  Lords,  he  had  not  had  his  views  on 
the  point  abated  by  his  brief  experience  of  Archiepiscopal  glory. 
When,  therefore,  the  rabble  came  round  the  Houses  of  Purlia- 

1  The  following  in  from  tho  Lords  '  gone  ;  and  they  are  willing  so  to  do, 

Journals,  Doc.  27,  1641.     "Thoro  be-  'but  they  say  they  dare  not,  because 

*  ing  a  concourse  of  people  about  the  '  there  is  Col.   Lunsford,  with  other 

'  Parliament  doors  and  the  places  ad-  'soldiers,  in  Westminster  Hall,  that  Ho 

'joining,    tho   Gentleman   Usher  was  'in  wait  for  them  with  their  swords 

'  directed  to  go  and  command  them,  in  '  drawn  ;  and  that  some  of  them  that 

'  the  King's  name,  to  be  gono,  .-UK!  <lis  '  were  going  through  Westminster  Hall 

'  i>erae  themselves  to  their  places  of  '  homo  have  boon  wounded  and  cut  on 

'  abode,  or  else  they  shall  IHJ  proceeded  '  their  heads  by  tho  said  soldiers." 

'  against  according  to  law.   The  Gentle-  *  In  tho  Lords  Journals  I  find  almotit 

4  man  Usher  returned  thisanswor  to  tho  every  committee  during  tho  time  under 

'House,— That  he  had  commanded  tho  notice  headed  by  "the  L.  Archbp.  of 

'people,  in  the  King's  name,  to  be  Yorke." 


332  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

ment,  crying  "  No  Bishops,"  "  No  Bishops/'  Williams's  indig- 
nation at  the  outrage  transcended  that  of  the  lay  lords.  He 
was  a  man  of  good  stately  presence,  and  his  hot  Welsh 
blood  was  apt  to  overboil.  Accordingly,  "  the  Bishop  of 
"  Lincoln/'  says  Eushworth,  still  calling  him  by  his  former 
title,  "  coming,  along  with  the  Earl  of  Dover,  towards  the 
"  House  of  Peers,  observing  a  youth  to  cry  out  against  the 
"  Bishops,  the  rest  of  the  citizens  being  silent,  slipt  from  the 
"  Earl  of  Dover,  and  laid  hands  on  him ;  whereupon  the 
"citizens  withheld  the  youth  from  him,  and  about  one 
"  hundred  of  them,  coming  about  his  lordship,  hemmed  him 
"  in  that  he  could  not  stir  ;  and  then  all  of  them  with  a  loud 
"  voice  cried  out  '  No  Bishops/  and  so  let  his  lordship,  the 
"  Bishop,  go."  We  learn  from  other  authorities  that  not  only 
was  the  Archbishop  jostled  and  hustled,  but  his  robes  were 
torn.  "  But,"  continues  Eushworth,  "  there  being  three  or 
"four  gentlemen  walking  near,  one  of  them,  named  David 
"  Hyde,  a  reformado  in  the  late  army  against  the  Scots,  and 
"  now  appointed  to  go  in  some  command  into  Ireland,  began 
"  to  bustle,  and  said  he  would  cut  the  throats  of  those  round- 
"  headed  dogs  that  bawled  against  Bishops  (which  passionate 
"  expression  of  his,  as  far  as  I  could  ever  learn,  was  the  first 
"  minting  of  that  term  or  compellation  of  Roundheads  which 
"  afterwards  grew  so  general),  and,  saying  so,  drew  his  sword, 
"  and  desired  the  other  gentlemen  to  second  him ;  but,  they 
"  refusing,  he  was  apprehended  by  the  citizens."  Lunsford 
himself,  however,  was  at  hand ;  and  during  the  rest  of  the 
day  he  and  some  thirty  or  forty  more  were  in  possession  of 
Westminster  Hall  and  the  neighbourhood,  charging  among 
the  crowd  every  now  and  then  with  drawn  swords.1 

But  who  could  have  guessed  what  was  to  follow  ?  Fuming 
with  rage  from  his  hustling  on  the  27th,  Archbishop  Williams 
had  shut  himself  up  in  his  residence,  the  Deanery  of  West- 
minster, thinking  what  he  should  do  next.  What  he  did  do 
only  proved  what  extraordinary  blunders  the  most  experienced 

1  Lords  Journals,  Dec.  27  et  seq.  ;  Fuller's  Church  History,  III.  430,  431 ; 
Rushworth  IV.  459—464  ;  Clarendon,  Mr.  Forster's  Arrest  of  the  Five  Members, 
History,  pp.  135—140  ;  Rapin,  II.  403  ;  pp.  67—81. 


1641.]  ARCHBISHOP  WILLIAMS'S  BLUNDER.  333 

man  may  commit  when  goaded  beyond  himself.  A  guard  of 
soldiers  was  found  in  the  churchyard  of  the  Abbey ;  and,  when 
it  was  asked  by  whose  command  they  were  there,  the  answer 
was  "  By  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  York's."  This  assumption 
of  military  authority  was  being  remarked  on  by  the  Commons, 
and  would  probably  itself  have  led  to  some  action  against  the 
Archbishop,  when  he  saved  them  the  trouble  ty  a  more 
flagrant  piece  of  imprudence,  which  involved  not  only  himself, 
but  also  most  of  his  Episcopal  colleagues.  Inviting  all  his 
fellow-Prelates  that  chanced  to  be  in  town  at  the  moment  to 
a  conference  in  the  Deanery,  Williams  proposed  that  they 
should  agree  in  a  joint  protest, — which,  dipping  his  pen  in  the 
ink,  he  proceeded  then  and  there  to  draw  up.  In  this  docu- 
ment, addressed  to  the  King  and  the  House  of  Lords,  the 
petitioners  declare,  after  some  preamble,  that,  inasmuch  as 
they  "  have  been  at  several  times  violently  menaced,  affronted, 
"  and  assaulted  by  multitudes  of  people  in  their  coming  to 
"  perform  their  services  in  that  honourable  House,  and  lately 
"  chased  away  and  put  in  danger  of  their  lives,"  they  dare 
not  again  sit  and  vote  in  the  House  until  they  are  secured 
against  the  recurrence  of  such  insults ;  and  then,  observing 
that  "  their  fears  are  not  built  upon  phantasies  and  conceits, 
"  but  upon  such  grounds  and  objects  as  may  well  terrify  men 
"  of  resolution  and  much  constancy,"  they  formally  protest 
before  his  Majesty  and  the  House  of  Peers  "  against  all  laws, 
"  orders,  votes,  resolutions,  and  determinations,  as  in  them- 
"  selves  null  and  of  none  effect,  which,  in  their  absence,  since 
"  the  27th  of  this  instant  month  of  December  1641,  have 
"  already  passed,  as  likewise  against  all  such  as  shall  here- 
"  after  pass,  in  that  most  honourable  House  during  the  time 
"  of  this  their  forced  and  violent  absence  from  the  said 
"  most  honourable  House."  They  conclude  by  desiring  his 
Majesty  to  command  the  Clerk  of  the  Peers  to  enter  the 
Protest  among  his  records.  That  a  set  of  sane  men,  ex- 
perienced in  laws  and  forms,  should  have  joined  in  such  an 
act  might  appear  incredible.  Nevertheless,  trusting  apparently 
that  Williams,  who  had  once  been  Lord  Keeper,  knew  what  he 
was  about,  all  the  Prelates  present  signed  the  Protest,  and  one 


334  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

or  two  others,  who  were  not  present,  but  within  reach,  added 
their  names  afterwards,  almost  without  reading  the  docu- 
ment. Accordingly,  when  Williams,  with  the  paper  in  his 
pocket,  went  to  Whitehall  to  present  it  to  the  King,  there 
were  twelve  signatures  to  it.  Williams's  own  was  first ;  and 
under  it  were  those  of  Morton  of  Durham,  Wright  of  Lich- 
field  and  Coventry,  Hall  of  Norwich,  Owen  of  St.  Asaph, 
Pierce  of  Bath  and  Wells,  Coke  of  Hereford,  Skinner  of 
Oxford,  Wren  of  Ely,  Goodman  of  Gloucester,  Towers  of 
Peterborough,  and  Owen  of  Llandaff.1 

It  would  have  been  well  for  the  Bishops  had  Charles  put 
the  document  in  the  fire.  Unfortunately,  the  Lord  Keeper, 
Littleton,  chanced  to  be  present ;  and  Charles,  not  foreseeing 
the  consequences,  handed  it  to  him  to  be  recorded  in  the 
Peers'  books.  Duly,  therefore,  on  Thursday  Dec.  30,  the 
Lord  Keeper  announced  to  the  House  his  Majesty's  command, 
and  the  Protest  was  read.  Instantly  the  Lords  requested  a 
conference  with  the  Commons  on  a  matter  of  "  high  and 
dangerous  consequence,"  not  affecting  the  Lords  only,  but 
"  extending  to  the  deep  entrenching  upon  the  fundamental 
privileges  and  being  of  Parliament."  The  conference  was 
held,  and  the  Commons  saw  their  opportunity.  Here  they 
had  been  for  some  months  moving  Bills  for  the  exclusion  of 
Bishops  from  Parliament.  Unsuccessful  in  that,  they  had,  by 
way  of  a  step  in  the  same  direction,  sought  to  incapacitate 
thirteen  of  the  Bishops  by  a  special  impeachment  on  account 
of  their  misdemeanours  in  the  Convocation  of  1640.  In  this 
too  they  were  meeting  with  delay  and  obstruction.  But  now, 
by  an  event  perfectly  providential,  power  was  put  into  their 
hands.  Twelve  Bishops,  among  whom  were  ten  of  those 
already  impeached,  had  walked  into  a  trap  made  by  them- 
selves. They  had  walked  into  a  trap  and  shut  the  door. 
They  had  done  an  act  which  the  Lords  themselves  were 
bound  to  punish.  On  the  afternoon  of  that  same  day,  accord- 
ingly, a  message  having  been  brought  up  from  the  Commons 
by  Mr.  Glynn,  accusing  the  twelve  Prelates  of  high  treason  for 

1  Clar.  Hist.  pp.  140,  141 ;  Eushworth,  IV.  468  et  sen.  ;  Parl.  Hist.  II.  993  et 
seq.  ;  Fuller's  Church  Hist.  III.  431—433. 


1641.]  ARCHBISHOP  WILLIAMS'S  BLUNDER.  335 

endeavouring  in  their  Protest  "  to  subvert  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  realm  and  the  being  of  Parliament,"  the  Lords 
immediately  ordered  the  twelve  to  be  brought  before  them. 
Arrested  that  evening,  brought  in  one  by  one  by  the  Gentle- 
man Usher,  and  informed  of  the  accusation  against  them, 
they  pleaded  ignorance  and  haste,  disclaimed  all  treason- 
able intention,  and  besought  mercy.  Thereupon,  about  eight 
o'clock,  ten  of  them  were  sent  off  through  the  dark  frosty 
evening  as  prisoners  to  the  Tower, — the  other  two,  Morton 
and  Wright,  on  account  of  their  age  and  infirmities,  being 
committed  to  the  milder,  but  more  expensive,  custody  of  the 
Gentleman  Usher.  Another  Bishop,  Curie  of  Winchester,  who 
was  then  in  the  House,  and  who  was  one  of  the  thirteen  pre- 
viously impeached,  was  required  to  disown  the  Protest  which 
his  brethren  had  signed,  before  he  was  allowed  to  continue  in 
the  House.1 

Thus,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1641,  Laud,  in  his  prison 
in  the  Tower,  knew  that  he  had  as  his  companions  there,  in 
other  rooms,  a  whole  bevy  of  the  Bishops  whom  he  had  left 
at  large  about  a  year  before,  including  his  old  enemy  Williams. 
They  were  to  be  his  companions  there  for  eighteen  weeks. 
Interchanges  of  courteous  messages  passed  between  Laud  and 
them  during  this  time ;  but  the  old  man  could  not  but  enjoy  the 
joke  when  he  was  shown  a  caricature  in  which  Williams  was 
represented  as  the  decoy-duck,  set  at  liberty,  according  to  the 
practice  of  farmers  in  his  old  Lincoln  diocese,  that  he  might 
inveigle  wilder  ducks  into  the  net.  Indeed,  by  this  act  of 
Williams,  England  was  all  but  cleared  of  Bishops  for  the 
time.  Only  eight  Prelates  now  remained  at  large  :  Curie  of 
Winchester,  Warner  of  Rochester,  Bridgman  of  Chester, 
Roberts  of  Bangor,  Mainwaring  of  St.  David's,  Duppa  of 
Salisbury,  Prideaux  of  Worcester,  and  Potter  of  Carlisle. 
This  last,  the  popular  or  "  Puritan  "  Bishop,  was  on  his  death- 
bed He  died  Jan.  1641-2.  Of  the  others,  most  of  whom,  if 

i  Lords    Journals,    Doc.    30,    1641.  The  others  expressed  penitence,— Mor- 

Tho  Bishop*  who  seem   to  have  boon  ton  saying  that  "  this  was  the  greatest 

most  resolute  in  their  appearance  were  misery  that  over  befell  him,"  and  Hall, 

Williams  himself,    Wr.-u.    und   Coke.  that  ''this  was  the  heaviest  affliction 

They  simply  declined  saying  anything.  that  over  came  u|*>n  him." 


336  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

not  all,  had  only  escaped  Williams's  decoy  by  the  accident  of 
their  not  being  in  town  at  the  moment,  several  were  already 
in  virtual  retirement.  In  fact,  from  December  1641,  though 
the  question  of  Episcopacy  was  still  so  far  from  being  settled 
that  subsequent  appointments  to  Bishoprics,  presently  to  be 
noticed,  did  take  place,  Bishops  as  a  body  disappear  for 
nearly  twenty  years  from  the  History  of  England.1 


CHARLES'S  COUP  D'ETAT,  OR  ATTEMPTED  ARREST  OF  THE 
FIVE  MEMBERS. 

After  the  tumults  of  Christmas  1641,  and  the  mishap  to  the 
twelve  Bishops,  Charles  appears  to  have  been  at  the  end  of  his 
wits.  For  a  day  or  two  there  seems  to  have  been  a  thought 
of  yielding  everything,  and  bringing  Pym  into  the  King's 
counsels  as  the  only  pilot  who  could  weather  the  storm. 
Only  for  a  day  or  two,  however.  Immediately  there  was  a 
rebound. 

Since  the  King's  return  from  Scotland  he  had  been  trying 
to  remodel  his  Privy  Council  so  as  to  bring  its  composition 
nearer  to  his  own  ideal.  Thus,  on  the  very  day  after  his 
return  (Nov.  26),  not  content  with  having  already  deprived 
Sir  Henry  Vane  the  elder  of  his  office  of  Treasurer  of  the 
Household  and  conferred  that  office  on  Lord  Savile,  he  had 
ejected  Vane  from  his  Ministry  altogether,  by  depriving  him 
of  the  Secretaryship  of  State :  which  office  (or  rather  the 
joint  Secretaryship  vacant  by  Windebank's  flight)  he  bestowed 
on  the  faithful  Mr.  Nicholas,  thenceforward  known  as  Sir 
Edward  Nicholas,  or  Mr.  Secretary  Nicholas,  and  having  Mr. 
Sidney  Bere  as  his  under-secretary.  Here,  consequently,  by 
way  of  sample,  was  the  attendance  at  a  Council-meeting  at 
Whitehall  on  the  llth  of  December:  the  King,  the  Lord 
Privy  Seal  (i.e.  the  Earl  of  Manchester),  the  Duke  of  Eich- 
mond,  the  Marquis  of  Hertford,  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton, 
the  Lord  Chamberlain  (i.e.  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  had  super- 
seded the  Earl  of  Pembroke  in  that  office),  the  Earl  of  Dorset, 

l  Forster's  Air est  of  the  Five  Members,  pp.  100—103  ;  Fuller's  Church  Hist.  III.  434. 


1641-2.]  CHARLES'S  COUP  D'ETAT.  337 

the  Earl  of  Bristol,  the  Earl  of  Holland,  the  Earl  of  Berkshire, 
Viscount  Saye  and  Sele,  Lord  Savile,  Lord  Dunsraore,  Lord 
Goring,  Lord  Newburgh,  Mr.  Comptroller  (i.e.  Sir  Thomas 
Jermyn),  Mr.  Secretary  Nicholas,  and  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
of  Common  Pleas  (i.e.  Sir  John  Banks).1  It  is  clear  that  this 
was  not  yet  a  working  Ministry  to  Charles's  mind ;  and,  in 
fact,  as  we  know,  his  real  advisers  at  the  time  were  persons 
not  nominally  in  the  Ministry  at  all.  The  chief  of  these 
were  Lord  Digby,  Lord  Falkland,  Sir  John  Colepepper,  and 
Mr.  Hyde.  To  bring  the  last  three,  as  leaders  of  the  Opposi- 
tion in  the  Commons,  openly  into  the  Ministry  had  for  some 
time  been  Charles's  intention ;  and  just  about  New  Year's 
Day  1641-2  that  intention  was  carried  into  effect  so  far 
as  Falkland  and  Colepepper  were  concerned.  Falkland  was  to 
be  one  of  the  principal  Secretaries  of  State,  or,  in  other  words, 
joint  Secretary  with  Nicholas  ;  and  Colepepper  was  to  take  the 
Chancellorship  of  the  Exchequer,  vacant  since  the  resignation 
of  that  office  by  Lord  Cottington,  and  was  to  hold  the  office 
"  for  life."  Although  the  appointments  were  not,  as  we 
should  now  say,  gazetted  till  about  a  week  into  January,  they 
had  been  virtually  made  on  New  Year's  Day.  On  that  day  both 
Falkland  and  Colepepper  took  their  oaths  as  Privy  Coun- 
cillors.2 The  King  was  very  anxious  to  bring  Mr.  Hyde 
also  into  the  Council  and  Ministry ;  but,  though  Hyde 
strongly  recommended  his  friend  Falkland  to  take  office,  and 
was  the  means  of  overcoming  Falkland's  scruples,  he  pre- 
ferred remaining  without  office  himself  in  the  meantime. 
Accordingly  Hyde,  as  well  as  his  friend  Lord  Digby,  remained 
out  of  the  nominal  Ministry.8  There  was  brought  into  it, 
however,  by  way  of  compensation,  the  loyal  young  Earl  of 
Southampton.  He  was  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council  and  took 
his  seat  there  Jan.  3,  1641-2. 

The  New  Year's  Day,  Jan.  1,  1641-2,  on  which  Falkland 
and  Colepepper  took  their  seats  in  the  Privy  Council,  was  a 

1  Minuto  of  Council  mooting  of  this  Privy  Councillors  a  licence,  dated  Jan.  1 , 

date  in  State  Paper  Office.  1641-2,  to  a  Thos.  Filbrick  to  travel 

•Mr.  Former's  Arrt*  of  the  Five  abroad  (8.  P.  0.  document  of  that  date). 

Member*,  p.  111.  I  find  both  Falkland  >  Clar.  136,  137  (Hist.),  and  988,  939 

and  Colopepper  signing  along  with  other  ( Lif o). 

VOL.  II  7. 


338  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Saturday.  On  the  previous  Thursday,  Dec.  30,  the  very  day 
of  the  imprisonment  of  the  twelve  Bishops,  Pym  had  warned 
the  Commons,  within  closed  doors,  of  some  "  design "  to 
be  executed  that  very  day  upon  the  House  of  Commons,  for 
the  frustration  of  which  it  was  necessary  that  they  should 
apply  to  the  City  for  a  guard  of  trained  bands.  Pym's  ex- 
pressions being  enigmatical,  and  the  information  on  which 
he  acted  being  such  as  he  could  not  properly  divulge,  the 
Commons  were  contented  that  day  with  a  new  petition  to  the 
King  for  a  guard  under  Essex.  The  following  day,  however, 
Denzil  Holies,  who  had  delivered  the  petition  verbally  to  the 
King,  having  reported  that  his  Majesty  required  it  to  be  in 
writing,  the  Commons,  while  drawing  up  the  petition,  required 
three  of  their  body,  who  were  justices  of  the  peace  for  West- 
minster, to  set  armed  watches  at  convenient  places  round  the 
House,  and  at  the  same  time  ordered  a  number  of  halberds  to 
be  brought  into  the  House  for  the  use  of  members  in  case  of 
extremity.  This  was  on  Friday,  the  last  day  of  the  year  ;  and, 
the  next  day  being  New  Year's  Day,  and  the  day  after  that 
Sunday,  there  was  no  meeting  of  the  House  till  Monday 
Jan.  3.  Nothing  had  happened,  and  Pym's  information 
seemed  to  have  been  defective.1 

But,  though  he  had  been  wrong  as  to  the  day,  Pym  was 
right  in  fact.  On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  3rd  of  January, 
the  two  Houses  met  as  usual.  In  the  Commons  there  was 
read  the  King's  answer  to  their  petition  of  the  preceding 
Friday.  If  his  own  general  assurance  that  he  would  protect 
them  was  not  enough,  he  would  give  them  such  a  guard  as  they 
wanted.  But  he  did  meanwhile  give  them  that  general 
assurance  :  "  We  do  engage  unto  you  solemnly  the  word  of  a 
"  King  that  the  security  of  all  and  every  one  of  you  from 
"  violence  is,  and  shall  ever  be,  as  much  our  care  as  the  pre- 
"  servation  of  us  and  our  children."  2  While  this  was  being 
read  in  the  Commons,  what  was  passing  in  the  other  House  ? 
This  was  what  was  passing : — The  Attorney-General,  Sir 
Edward  Herbert,  having  been  called  upon  by  the  Lord  Keeper 

1  Mr.    Forster's  Arrest    of  the  Five          2  gee  Answer  itself  in  Parl.  Hist.  II. 
Members,  pp.  105—112.  1004,  1005. 


1641-2.]  CHARLES'S  COUP  D'ETAT.  339 

to  make  a  communication  with  which  his  Majesty  had 
entrusted  him,  stood  up  at  the  Clerk's  table,  and,  in  the  name 
of  his  Majesty,  presented  Articles  of  High  Treason  against 
Lord  Kimbolton  (Viscount  Mandeville),  a  member  of  that 
House,  and  Mr.  Denzil  Holies,  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  Mr.  John 
Pym,  Mr.  John  Hampden,  and  Mr.  William  Strode,  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Articles  were  seven  in 
number.  The  first  was  a  general  accusation  of  having 
"  traitorously  endeavoured  to  subvert  the  fundamental  laws 
and  government  of  this  kingdom " ;  the  second,  an  accusa- 
tion of  having  traitorously  aspersed  his  Majesty  and  his 
Government,  so  as  to  make  him  odious ;  the  third,  an  accusa- 
tion of  having  tampered  with  the  army  ;  the  fourth,  an  accu- 
sation of  having  "  traitorously  invited  and  encouraged  a 
foreign  power  [the  Scots]  to  invade  his  Majesty's  kingdom 
of  England  " ;  and  the  other  three  Articles  related  to  recent 
events,  including  the  Christmas  tumults.  The  Attorney- 
General  expressed  his  Majesty's  desire  that  a  Secret  Com- 
mittee should  be  appointed  to  examine  the  evidence  which 
his  Majesty  would  produce  in  support  of  the  charges,  and 
that  meanwhile  the  accused  should  be  taken  into  safe  custody. 
The  Lords,  though  in  no  small  agitation,  behaved  firmly. 
They  listened  to  Lord  Ximbolton,  who,  standing  up  in  his 
place  in  the  House,  hotly  denied  the  charges  and  challenged 
investigation.  Instead  of  appointing  the  Secret  Committee 
required,  they  appointed  a  committee  to  inquire  into  pre- 
cedents "  touching  the  regularity  of  the  accusation,"  and  they 
took  no  steps  for  the  arrest  of  the  accused.  And  here,  accord- 
ing to  Clarendon,  Lord  Digby,  who  was  the  secret  mover  of 
the  whole  business,  utterly  failed  to  do  his  part.  "  The  Lord 
I  >L'by,"  says  Clarendon,  "  had  promised  the  King  to  move  the 
"  House  for  the  commitment  of  Lord  Kimbolton  as  soon  as 
"  the  Attorney-General  should  have  accused  him ;  which,  if 
"  he  had  done  it,  would  probably  have  raised  a  very  hot  dis- 
"  pute  in  the  House,  when  many  would  have  joined  him. 
"  On  the  contrary,  he  seemed  the  most  surprised  and  ]».  i  pi,  \,  ,1 
"  with  the  Attorney's  impeachment;  and,  sitting  at  that 
"  time  next  the  Lord  Kimbolton,  with  whom  lu-  i>ivtcn<U'il  to 


340  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  live  with  much  friendship,  he  whispered  him  in  the  ear  with 
"  some  commotion  (as  he  had  a  rare  talent  at  dissimulation) 
"  '  that  the  King  was  very  mischievously  advised,  and  it 
"  '  should  go  very  hard  but  he  would  know  whence  that 
"  '  counsel  proceeded ;  in  order  to  which,  and  to  prevent 
"  '  farther  mischief,  he  would  go  immediately  to  his  Majesty.'  " 
So  saying,  Lord  Digby  left  the  House.  Meanwhile  the  great 
news  had  reached  the  Commons.  While  that  House,  after 
hearing  the  King's  answer  to  their  petition  for  a  guard,  was 
proceeding  with  other  business,  word  was  brought  that  several 
persons  were  then  at  the  chambers  of  Mr.  Pym,Mr.  Holies,  Mr. 
Hampden,  and  other  members,  seizing  their  papers,  and  sealing 
up  trunks  and  doors  of  wardrobes.  The  House  immediately 
ordered  the  arrest  of  such  persons,  and  sent  to  request  the 
Lords  to  confer  with  them  on  this  breach  of  Parliamentary 
privilege.  The  conference  was  held,  and  out  of  it  grew  a 
farther  conference  between  committees  appointed  by  both 
Houses.  While  the  committees  were  absent  on  this  business, 
however,  the  serjeant-at-arms  sent  in  notice  that  he  had  a 
message  to  the  Commons  from  the  King.  Admitted  to  the  bar 
of  the  House  without  his  mace,  he  delivered  his  message.  It 
was  that  he  was  commanded  to  "  require  of  Mr.  Speaker  "  five 
gentlemen,  members  of  the  House,  and,  "  these  gentlemen 
being  delivered,"  to  "arrest  them, in  his  Majesty's  name,  of  high 
treason."  He  concluded  by  naming  the  five, — "Mr.  Holies, 
Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  Mr.  Pym,  Mr.  Hampden,  Mr.  William 
Strode."  The  serjeant-at-arms  having  withdrawn,  the  House, 
who  knew  by  this  time  what  had  already  happened  in  the 
Lords,  appointed  a  deputation  of  their  own  number,  consisting 
of  Colepepper,  Lord  Falkland,  Sir  Philip  Stapleton,  and  Sir 
John  Hotham,  to  wait  upon  his  Majesty  and  inform  him  that 
his  message  was  one  of  great  consequence/concerning  as  it  did 
the  privilege  of  Parliament,  but  that  they  would  take  care  that 
the  five  gentlemen  named  should  be  "  ready  to  answer  any 
legal  charge  laid  against  them."  Accordingly,  Pym,  Hampden, 
Holies,  Haselrig,  and  Strode  were,  one  by  one,  enjoined  by 
the  Speaker,  in  the  House's  name,  to  attend  duly  in  their 
places  till  the  matter  should  be  decided.  Some  farther  orders 


1641-2.]  CHARLES'S  COUP  D'ETAT.  341 

of  both  Houses,  growing  out  of  their  conference,  ended  the 
business  of  this  important  day.1 

But  next  day,  Tuesday  Jan.  4,  was  still  more  important. 
Pym,  Hampden,  Holies,  Haselrig,  and  Strode  were  duly  in 
their  places,  according  to  injunction,  and  the  forenoon  in 
both  Houses  was  spent  in  discussions  and  orders  arising  out 
of  what  had  occurred.  Each  of  the  five  accused  in  the  Com- 
mons spoke  at  length  in  his  own  defence,  all  "  protesting  their 
innocency  " ;  and,  about  twelve  o'clock,  the  House  adjourned 
for  an  hour.  When  the  House  had  resumed  its  sitting  between 
one  and  two  o'clock,  and  it  had  been  officially  noted  by  the 
Speaker's  order  that  the  five  accused  had  again  taken  their 
places,  and  some  members  were  speaking  of  ominous  signs 
of  armed  gatherings  round  the  King  at  Whitehall,  there 
occurred  the  unparalleled  incident  which  is  thus  abruptly 
noticed  in  the  Commons  Journals : — 

"His  Majesty  came  into  the  House,  and  took  Mr.  Speaker's 
chair. 

"  Gentlemen, 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  this  occasion  to  come  unto 
you  *  *  *" 

Here  the  entry  breaks  off,  as  if  the  excitement  of  the  scene 
had  paralysed  the  clerks  at  their  work.  But  there  remain 
ample  and  exact  accounts  of  the  scene  by  various  hands, 
substantially  to  this  effect : — When  the  House  was  already 
full,  and  the  five  accused  had  taken  their  seats,  but,  in  con- 
sequence of  secret  information  just  received  that  the  King 
meant  to  come  in  person  to  demand  their  arrest,  a  debate 
had  arisen  whether  they  should  not  retire,  word  was  brought 
that  the  King  had  actually  left  Whitehall  at  the  head  of  a 
large  body  of  armed  men  and  was  approaching  the  House. 
Immediately  it  was  urged  that,  to  prevent  the  obvious  con- 
sequences of  an  attempt  to  seize  them  in  the  House,  the 
five  should  withdraw.  They  all  did  so  willingly,  with  the 
exception  of  Strode,  who  had  to  be  forced  out  by  his  friends. 

i  Lords  Journals,  Jan.  3,  1641-2 ;  worth,  IV.  473—476 ;  Part.  Hist.  II. 
Commons  Journals,  same  date  ;  Rush-  1005—1009  ;  Clar.  Hist.  p.  143. 


342  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

They  had  not  got  to  the  barge  waiting  for  them  at  the  river- 
side when  Charles,  with  a  band  of  some  four  or  five  hundred 
attendants,  consisting  of  his  own  usual  guard  together  with 
pensioners,  army  officers,  &c.,  armed  with  swords,  pistols,  and 
other  weapons,  arrived  at  Westminster  Hall.  The  shops  and 
stalls  there  had  been  shut  up  in  alarm  ;  and,  the  armed  men 
having  formed  themselves  into  two  lines  along  the  whole 
length  of  the  Hall,  the  King  advanced  along  the  lane  so 
formed,  and,  ascending  the  stairs  at  the  other  end  leading  to 
the  Commons  House,  passed  through  the  lobby  into  that 
House,  "  where  never  King  was,  as  they  say,  but  once  Henry 
the  Eighth."  A  considerable  number  of  officers  and  others 
pressed  after  him,  as  far  as  the  door,  which  they  forcibly  kept 
open  that  they  might  see  what  passed  within.  Captain 
David  Hyde,  the  inventor  of  the  term  "  Eoundhead,"  stood 
just  outside  the  door,  holding  his  sword  upright  in  its  scab- 
bard ;  and  just  inside,  leaning  against  the  door,  was  the 
Scottish  Earl  of  Eoxburgh.  When  the  King  entered,  followed 
only  by  his  nephew,  the  Elector  Palatine,  all  the  members 
rose  and  took  off  their  hats,  the  King  also  removing  his. 
Glancing  at  the  place  on  the  right  near  the  bar  where  Pym 
used  to  sit,  but  not  seeing  his  well-known  face  there,  the 
King  passed  up,  still  glancing  right  and  left,  and  the  mem- 
bers bowing,  till  he  came  to  the  Speaker's  chair;  where, 
Lenthall  stepping  forth  to  meet  him,  he  said,  "  Mr.  Speaker, 
I  must  borrow  your  chair  a  little,"  and  so  stood  on  the  step 
of  the  chair,  but  did  not  sit  down.  There  was  a  long  pause  ; 
and  then  the  King,  who  usually  spoke  indistinctly,  and  with 
much  stammering,  addressed  the  House  in  a  speech  which, 
fortunately,  John  Eushworth,  the  assistant-clerk  of  the 
House,  had  sufficient  presence  of  mind,  or  sense  of  duty,  to 
take  down  as  it  was  spoken,  in  shorthand.  "  Gentlemen," 
he  said,  "  I  am  sorry  for  this  occasion  of  coming  unto  you. 
"  Yesterday  I  sent  a  serjeant-at-arms  upon  a  very  important 
"  occasion,  to  apprehend  some  that  by  my  command  were 
"  accused  of  high  treason  ;  whereunto  I  did  expect  obedience, 
"  and  not  a  message."  Then,  after  some  words  to  the  effect 
that  in  cases  of  treason  there  could  be  no  privilege,  he 


1641-2.]  CHARLES'S  COUP  D'ETAT.  343 

continued,  "  Therefore  I  am  come  to  know  if  any  of  those 
persons  that  were  accused  are  here."  Then,  looking  round, 
he  said  by  way  of  parenthesis,  "  I  do  not  see  any  of  them : 
I  think  I  should  know  them."  There  was  another  sentence, 
to  the  effect  that  the  House  could  not  be  in  a  right  way  while 
such  persons  were  in  it,  ending  "  Therefore  I  am  come  to  tell 
you  that  I  must  have  them,  wheresoever  I  find  them." 
Then  again,  interrupting  himself,  the  King  called  out  "  Is 
Mr.  Pym  here  ? "  to  which  nobody  made  answer.  Turning 
to  the  Speaker,  who  was  standing  by  the  chair,  his  Majesty 
asked  him  whether  any  of  the  persons  accused  were  in  the 
House,  and,  if  so,  where.  "  May  it  please  your  Majesty," 
said  Leuthall,  kneeling,  "  I  have  neither  eyes  to  see  nor 
"  tongue  to  speak  in  this  place,  but  as  the  House  is  pleased 
"  to  direct  me,  whose  servant  I  am  here ;  and  I  humbly  beg 
"  your  Majesty's  pardon  that  I  cannot  give  any  other  answer 
"  than  this  to  what  your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  demand  of 
"  me."  The  King  replied,  "  Well,  well !  'tis  no  matter :  I 
think  my  eyes  are  as  good  as  another's,"  and  continued  to 
look  about.  Not  finding  what  he  wanted,  he  resumed :  "  Well, 
"  since  I  see  all  my  birds  are  flown,  I  do  expect  from  you 
"  that  you  will  send  them  unto  me  as  soon  as  they  return 
"  hither,"  adding  a  few  words,  chiefly  in  repetition  of  phrases 
already  uttered,  and  concluding,  "  otherwise  I  must  take 
"  my  own  course  to  find  them."  Then,  descending  from 
where  he  was,  he  left  the  House,  with  much  show  of  pas- 
sion, followed  by  the  Prince  Palatine,  but  not  without 
hearing  loud  cries,  Privilege  !  Privilege  !  shot  after  him  by 
many  of  the  members  as  he  passed  through  their  ranks.1 
One  fancies  Cromwell's  face  on  the  occasion,  and  how  it 
looked. 

What  might  have  been  the  consequence  had  the  Five 
members  been  present,  and  the  King  had  called  in  his 
armed  followers  to  seize  them,  can  hardly  be  imagined. 
Not  improbably  there  would  have  been  a  general  strife  on 
the  floor  of  the  House,  in  which  the  members  would  have 

1  Common*  Journals  of  dato  in  uuea-  (including  Kushworth's  nrii/iual  notes), 

Won;  Rushw.rth.   IV.    177.    17- :  hurl  M> 

1 1.  1009-1011  ;  but  see,  for  a  con-  pp.  179-195. 
spectus  and  digest  of  all  the  account* 


344  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

been  overpowered  and  many  of  them  killed,  but  the  King 
himself  might  have  fared  badly.1  As  it  was,  the  happy  pre- 
caution of  the  absence  of  the  Five  converted  the  attempted 
coup  d'dtat  into  a  failure.  It  was  a  failure  so  egregious  that 
the  King  must  almost  immediately  have  repented  of  his  act. 
It  is  true  he  maintained  the  high  vein  of  kingly  indignation 
for  a  day  or  two  more.  He  sent  for  John  Eushworth,  and, 
having  procured  from  him  a  copy  of  his  speech,  extended 
from  the  shorthand  notes  which  Eushworth  had  taken  in 
the  House,  he  amended  the  speech  in  a  few  particulars  and 
had  it  published.  He  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  arrest 
of  the  Five  wherever  they  might  chance  to  be.  Nay,  know- 
ing that  they  were  in  the  City,  he  went  into  the  City  himself, 
to  talk  with  the  Mayor  and  Corporation,  dine  with  one  of  the 
Sheriffs,  and  ascertain  whether  the  City  would  to  any  extent 
stand  by  him  against  the  Parliament.  Digby,  knowing  the 
very  house  in  Coleman  Street  where  the  Five  were  hid,  even 
proposed  to  go,  with  Lunsford  and  a  chosen  band  of  deter- 
mined men,  and  take  them  by  force  or  leave  them  dead.  But 
all  was  in  vain.  The  City,  at  first  panic-stricken,  had  roused 
itself  in  universal  commotion  round  the  five  celebrities  it 
sheltered.  To  the  cry  of  Arm  !  Arm  !  which  had  run  through 
the  streets  and  into  the  suburbs,  as  many  as  140,000  are 
said  to  have  responded,  armed  in  every  fashion ;  and  a  tem- 
porary commander  for  this  force,  if  it  should  be  required, 
was  at  hand  in  Philip  Skippon,  a  plain  veteran  who  had 
served  in  the  Low  Countries,  originally  as  a  waggoner  to  Sir 
Francis  Vere,  but,  having  risen  to  a  captaincy,  had  become 
a  teacher  of  fencing  and  the  pike  and  musket  exercise  in 
London,  and  was  now  well  known  and  popular  in  the  City 
as  Captain  of  the  Artillery  Garden.2 

The  conduct  of  the  Parliament  meanwhile  was  masterly. 
Meeting  on  the  day  after  the  outrage,  to  declare  it  a 
breach  of  privilege,  and  the  like,  the  Commons  had  ad- 

1  According   to    D'Ewes,    the    plan  waiting,  and  there  given  them  the  sig- 

agreed  upon,  had  the  Five  been  in  the  nal.     But  D'Ewes  asks  whether  it  is 

House  and  the  House  had  refused  to  likely  that  they  would  have  waited  long 

give  them  up,  was  for  his  Majesty  to  enough  to  see  his  Majesty  safe, 

have  retired  back  to  the  entrance  lobby,  2  Kushworth .  IV.  478—480  :  Walker's 

where  his  most  eager  followers  were  Hist,  of  Independency,  Part  I.  p.  116. 


1641-2.]  KING  AWAY  FROM  LONDON.  345 

journed  their  sittings  for  six  days;  having  ordered,  how- 
ever, that  a  committee,  which  all  members  might  attend, 
should  meet  meanwhile  daily  at  Guildhall  or  elsewhere  in 
the  City.  The  Lords  also  adjourned  ;  so  that  virtually,  for  six 
days,  the  Parliament  was  within  the  City  of  London.  In 
short,  the  King's  own  friends  in  the  City  had  to  advise  him 
that  nothing  could  be  done.  His  reluctance  to  believe  this 
was  shown  by  his  reissuing  (Jan.  8)  a  proclamation  for  the 
arrest  of  the  Five.  This  was  met  on  the  part  of  the  Com- 
mons' committee  in  the  City  by  a  reply  which  justified  pro- 
spectively  whatever  the  citizens  might  find  it  necessary  to  do 
in  defence,  and  by  an  order  constituting  Skippon  Major- 
General  of  the  Militia  of  the  City,  with  special  instructions 
to  guard  the  Tower.  At  length,  on  the  10th  of  January, 
convinced  that  further  proceedings  were  hopeless,  and  not 
able  to  abide  the  spectacle  of  the  reassembling  of  Parliament 
in  Westminster,  with  the  Five  in  triumph  in  the  midst  of 
them,  Charles  left  Whitehall  (which  he  was  to  see  no  more 
till  his  last  return  to  it),  and  went  first  to  Hampton  Court, 
and  thence  to  Windsor.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  Queen, 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Prince  Elector,  Secretary  Nicholas, 
and  a  few  lords.1 


KING  AWAY  FROM  LONDON  :  PARLIAMENT  MASTER  OF  THE  FIELD  : 
BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL  PASSED  :    THE  MILITIA  QUESTION. 

The  King  having  withdrawn,  Parliament  was  master  of  the 
field.  Accordingly,  from  its  triumphant  reassembling  on  the 
llth  of  January,  with  the  Five  members  in  the  midst,  con- 
veyed with  shouts  and  cheers  up  the  river  from  the  City,  there 
were  two  months  of  almost  uninterrupted  progress  on  their 
part,  the  King  only  hearing  of  their  proceedings  as  he  moved 
about  from  place  to  place,  and  having  intercourse  with  them 
by  message  and  letter. 

First  of  all,  there  was  the  sweep  of  revenge  against  the 

»  The  event*  between  the  4th  and       detail  by  Mr.   Forater:  Arrett  of  the 
the  llth  of  Jan.,  here  oompreaaed  into       Five  Member*,  pp.  195—387. 
unu  ur  two  paragraphs,  are  narrated  in 


346  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

agents,  or  supposed  agents,  in  the  late  attempted  coup  d'dtat. 
Attorney-General  Herbert,  Lord  Digby,  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond,  Sir  John  Byron,  Colonel  Lunsford,  and  others,  were  all 
struck  at,  or  threatened.  An  example,  collaterally,  was  made 
of  Sir  Edward  Deering,  whose  recent  backing  towards  the 
King's  side  on  the  Grand  Remonstrance,  and  even  on  the 
question  of  Bishops,  had  lost  him  his  former  popularity, 
and  who  had  brought  himself  under  censure  by  publishing 
some  of  his  speeches  in  the  House,  with  accompanying  re- 
flections, intended  to  set  himself  right  with  the  public.  The 
book  was  voted  scandalous  and  dishonourable  to  the  House, 
and  ordered  to  be  burnt  by  the  hangman ;  Deering  himself 
was  expelled  the  House,  and  committed  to  the  Tower  for  a 
few  days  ;  and  a  new  writ  was  issued  for  the  County  of  Kent 
(Feb.  2).1  And  Deering's  case  was  but  a  sample.  "  Malignants 
and  evil  counsellors  "  was  the  phrase  that  now  went  and  came 
between  the  two  Houses.  It  was  a  phrase  that  hung  over 
the  heads  of  many  more  than  were  as  yet  denounced  indi- 
vidually.2 Even  the  Queen  began  to  be  named  as  a  fit  object 
for  impeachment. 

But  the  Commons  took  farther  advantage  of  the  occasion 
than  by  merely  denouncing  individual  malignants.  They 
brought  forward  again  the  questions  they  had  formerly  been 
pressing.  They  besieged  the  Lords  more  vehemently  with 
those  questions  than  ever  before  ;  they  dashed  them,  as  it  were, 
against  the  doors  of  that  House,  with  calls  to  it  either  to 
cease  the  policy  of  obstruction,  or  to  be  obstructive  still  and 
take  the  consequences.  This  determination  of  the  Commons 
either  to  hurry  the  Lords  with  them,  or  to  sweep  through 
them  and  past  them,  was  specially  apparent  in  a  conference 
between  the  two  Houses  on  the  25th  of  January.  The 
conference  was  nominally  occasioned  by  new  petitions  for 
Reformation  in  Church  and  State  which  had  been  sent  in 

1  Commons  Journals,  Feb.  2,  1641-2.  original— matiis  ignis,   "bad  fire,"  and 

TTT  T?S?     "*  to  Fuller  (Church  Hist-  malum  lignum,  "bad  wood."      But  the 

III.  443),  who  seems,  however,  only  to  word    occurs    at  least    seventy    years 

say  here  what  others  were  saying,  the  before  this  date  in  Knox's  History  of 

word  malignant  was  first  coined  in  Eng-  the  Reformation  in   Scotland.      It  may 

land  in  or  about  1642.     He  gives  two  have  been  imported  from  Scotland  into 

fantastic  derivations  of  it,  or  of  its  Latin  England. 


1641-2.]  KING  AWAY  FROM  LONDON.  347 

from  various  English  counties ;  but  really  it  was  on  the 
general  state  of  affairs.  Pym,  who  was  the  spokesman  of 
the  Commons,  made  an  address  to  the  Lords,  after  the  peti- 
tions had  been  read,  the  key-word  of  which  was  Obstruction. 
He  played  upon  this  word ;  he  iterated  and  reiterated  it,  with 
that  sense  of  the  importance  of  a  well-chosen  phrase  which 
marks  the  accustomed  orator.  There  was  Obstruction,  he 
said,  everywhere  and  in  every  direction.  There  was  Obstruc- 
tion to  Reformation  in  matters  of  Religion ;  there  was 
Obstruction  in  Trade ;  there  was  Obstruction  to  the  Relief 
of  Ireland ;  there  was  Obstruction  to  Prosecution  of  De- 
linquents ;  there  was  general  Obstruction  to  the  proceedings 
of  Parliament ;  and  there  was  Obstruction  to  providing  for 
the  Defence  of  the  Kingdom.  Every  time  that  the  word 
"  Obstruction "  passed  Pym's  lips,  it  must  have  been  like 
a  lash  administered  to  the  Peers.  But  he  did  not  leave  his 
intention  to  be  inferred.  "  I  am  now  come  to  a  conclusion," 
he  aaid  in  peroration,  "  and  I  have  nothing  to  propound  to 
"  your  lordships  by  way  of  request  or  desire  from  the  House 
"  of  Commons.  I  doubt  not  but  your  judgment  will  tell  you 
"  what  is  to  be  done :  your  consciences,  your  honours,  your 
"  interests,  will  call  upon  you  for  the  doing  of  it.  The  Com- 
"  mons  will  be  glad  to  have  your  concurrence  and  help  in 
"  saving  of  the  kingdom  ;  but,  if  they  fail  of  it,  it  should  not 
"  discourage  them  in  doing  their  duty.  And,  whether  the 
"  kingdom  be  lost  or  saved  (but  I  hope,  through  God's  bless- 
"  ing,  it  will  be  saved),  they  shall  be  sorry  that  the  story 
"  of  this  present  Parliament  should  tell  posterity  that,  in 
"  so  great  a  danger  and  extremity,  the  House  of  Commons 
"  should  be  inforced  to  save  the  kingdom  alone,  and  that  the 
"  House  of  Peers  should  have  no  part  in  the  honour  of  the 
"  preservation  of  it."  This  was  strong  language  ;  but  it  was 
followed  by  stronger.  In  a  message  from  the  Commons  to 
the  Lords  (Feb.  1),  requesting  them  to  join  the  Commons  in  a 
new  petition  to  the  King  respecting  the  charge  of  the  Forts 
and  Militia  of  the  kingdom,  it  was  distinctly  intimated  that 
the  Lords  "must  not  expect  the  Commons  to  come  to  tin-in 
again  on  this  business,"  and  a  request  was  made  that  those 


348  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

lords  who  concurred  with  the   Commons  should  announce 
their  concurrence,  that  they  might  be  known.1 

All  London  and  the  country  round  had  caught  Pym's 
watchword  of  "  Obstruction."  About  the  most  significant 
token  of  this  was  a  petition  brought  to  the  Commons,  Feb.  4, 
from  "  the  Gentlewomen,  Tradesmen's  Wives,  and  many 
"  others  of  the  Female  Sex,  all  inhabitants  of  the  City  of 
"  London  and  the  suburbs  thereof."  The  petition  was  actually 
brought  to  the  doors  of  the  House  by  a  large  deputation  of 
those  who  had  signed  it,  headed  by  a  Mrs.  Ann  Stagg,  the 
wife  of  a  well-to-do  brewer.  When  the  petition  was  read,  it 
might  well  have  seemed,  from  its  high  and  passionate  key, 
that  it  had  actually  been  composed  by  women.  "  Notwith- 
"  standing  that  many  worthy  deeds  have  been  done  by  you," 
it  said,  "  great  danger  and  fear  do  still  attend  us,  and  will,  as 
"  long  as  Popish  Lords  and  superstitious  Bishops  are  suffered 
"  to  have  their  voice  in  the  House  of  Peers,  that  accursed 
"  and  abominable  idol  of  the  Mass  suffered  in  the  kingdom, 
"  and  that  arch-enemy  of  our  prosperity  and  reformation 
"  [Archbishop  Laud]  lieth  in  the  Tower,  yet  not  receiving 
"  his  deserved  punishment."  Again,  concerning  Ireland, 
and  especially  the  outrages  on  women  in  the  insurrection 
there :  "  Have  we  not  just  cause  to  fear  they  will  prove  fore- 
"  runners  of  our  ruin,  except  Almighty  God,  by  the  wisdom 
"  and  care  of  this  Parliament,  be  pleased  to  succour  us,  our 
"  husbands  and  children,  which  are  as  dear  and  tender  to  us 
"  as  the  lives  and  blood  of  our  hearts  ?  To  see  them  murdered 
"  and  mangled  and  cut  to  pieces  before  our  eyes ;  to  see  our 
"  children  dashed  against  the  stones,  and  the  mother's  milk 
"  mingled  with  the  infant's  blood  running  down  the  streets ; 
"  to  see  our  houses  on  flaming  fire  over  our  heads  !  Oh  !  how 
"  dreadful  would  this  be  ! "  The  petition  ends  with  reasons 
why  the  petitioners  have  done  a  thing  so  unusual  in  their  sex 
as  to  meddle  with  politics.  "  It  may  be  thought  strange,  and 
"  unbeseeming  our  sex,"  they  say,  "  to  show  ourselves  by  way 
"  of  petition  to  this  Honourable  Assembly ;  but,  the  matter 

1  Parl.  Hist.  II.  1049  et  seq.  ;  Rushworth,  IV.  508  et  seg.  ;  Commons  Journals, 
Feb.  1,  1641-2. 


1641-2.]  BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL  PASSED.  349 

"  being  rightly  considered  of,  the  right  and  interest  we  have 
"  in  the  common  and  public  cause  of  the  Church,  it  will, 
"  as  we  conceive,  under  correction,  be  found  a  duty  com- 
"  manded  and  required  : — 1.  Because  Christ  hath  purchased 
"  us  at  as  dear  a  rate  as  he  hath  done  men,  and  therefore 
"  requireth  the  like  obedience,  for  the  same  mercy,  as  of  men. 
"  2.  Because  in  the  free  enjoying  of  Christ  in  his  own  laws, 
"  and  a  flourishing  estate  of  the  Church  and  Commonwealth, 
"consisteth  the  happiness  of  women  as  well  as  men.  3. 
"  Because  women  are  sharers  in  the  common  calamities  that 
"  accompany  both  Church  and  Commonwealth,  when  oppres- 
"  sion  is  exercised  over  the  Church  and  Kingdom  wherein 
"  they  live,  and  unlimited  power  given  to  the  Prelates  to 
"  exercise  authority  over  the  consciences  of  women  as  well  as 
"  men :  witness  Newgate,  Smithfield,  and  other  places  of 
"  persecution,  wherein  women  as  well  as  men  have  felt  the 
"  smart  of  their  fury." ] 

The  Women's  Petition  against  Bishops,  and  two  other 
petitions  to  the  same  effect  presented  about  the  same  time 
by  the  Prentices  and  Sailors  of  London  and  the  Street 
Porters,  became  afterwards,  of  course,  a  fertile  subject  of  jest 
with  the  Royalists.  It  is  worth  noting,  however,  as  at  least 
a  coincidence,  that  it  was  on  the  very  day  after  the  Women's 
Petition  that  the  Lords  made  that  great  concession  which 
had  been  so  long  demanded  by  the  Commons  in  vain.  On 
Saturday,  the  5th  of  February  1641-2,  the  Bill  for  exclud- 
ing Bishops  from  Parliament  was  read  in  the  Lords  for  the 
third  time,  and,  after  debate,  passed  by  that  House,  only  the 
Bishops  of  Winchester,  Rochester,  and  Worcester  (Curie, 
Warner,  and  Prideaux,)  dissenting.  Here  is  the  formal  entry 
of  this  important  fact  as  it  stands  in  the  Lords  Journals : 
"Hodie  3a  vice  lecta  est  Bttla,  An  Act  for  Disabling  all 
"  persons  in  Holy  Orders  to  exercise  any  Temporal  Jurisdic- 
"  tion  or  Authority :  And,  being  put  to  the  Question  whether 
"  this  Bill,  with  the  Alterations  and  Additions,  should  pass 
"  as  a  Law,  it  was  resolved  it  should  pass  as  a  Law." >J 

i  Parl.  Hint.  II.  1072—1078.  >  Lords  Journals  of  date. 


350  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Thus,  after  nearly  a  year  of  swaying  to  and  fro  between 
the  two  Houses,  had  the  first  of  the  great  measures  of 
Church  Keform  pressed  by  the  movement  party  in  the  Com- 
mons been  pushed  through  the  House  of  Lords.  Great,  of 
course,  was  the  popular  rejoicing.  The  question  of  the 
future  constitution  of  the  Church  of  England,  it  is  true, 
remained  still  undecided ;  but  the  exclusion  of  the  Bishops 
from  Parliament  was  regarded  as  a  step  that  would  make  all 
the  rest  easy.  But  would  the  King  give  his  assent  to  the 
Bill  ?  This  was  now  the  point. 

The  King,  who  had  been  alternating  between  Windsor  and 
Hampton  Court,  still  keeping  away  from  London,  but  in  daily 
communication  with  Parliament  on  one  subject  or  another, 
was  in  a  state  of  mind  in  which  it  was  almost  a  matter  of 
indifference  to  him  what  Bills  he  now  passed  or  did  not  pass. 
His  chief  adviser  in  the  cowp  d'tftat,  Lord  Digby,  had  fled 
beyond  seas  for  his  life ;  but  Charles  had  around  him,  or 
in  communication  with  him,  such  counsellors  as  Colepepper, 
Falkland,  Hyde,  Nicholas,  the  Duke  of  Eichmond,  the 
Marquis  of  Hertford,  and  the  Earls  of  Newcastle  and  South- 
ampton. The  Queen's  influence  too  was  greater  than  ever. 
As  the  result  of  the  consultations  held  in  the  little  royal 
conclave,  it  was  determined  that  nothing  special  should  be 
done  at  present  in  the  way  of  farther  opposition  to  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  that  (1)  the  Queen  should  be  sent  quietly  out  of 
the  kingdom,  with  the  crown  jewels,  on  pretext  of  accom- 
panying into  Holland  her  eldest  daughter,  recently  married 
to  Prince  William  of  Orange,  but  really  to  purchase  arms ; 
and  (2)  that  the  King  should  then  gradually  retire  into  the 
north,  leaving  Parliament  to  its  courses,  and  waiting  for  time 
and  means  to  retrieve  all  by  war.  This  being  the  plan,  what 
mattered  it,  save  in  respect  of  the  King's  own  notions  of 
decorum,  how  much  he  should  yield  in  addition  to  what  had 
been  yielded  already  ?  On  this  principle  it  was  that,  since 
his  departure  from  Whitehall,  he  had  seemed  to  acquiesce  in 
his  new  position  as  a  monarch  bound  to  succumb.  He  had 
offered,  for  example,  to  waive  all  proceedings  against  the 


1641-2.]  BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL  PASSED.  351 

Five  members ;  and,  when  the  Commons  insisted  on  a  full 
legal  investigation  into  the  charges  against  those  members, 
he  had  begged  them  to  let  bygones  be  bygones.  Again,  he 
had  given  his  consent  to  the  removal  of  Sir  John  Byron 
from  the  Lieutenancy  of  the  Tower  and  the  appointment  of 
Sir  John  Conyers  in  his  room.1 

Would  his  complacency  carry  him  so  far  as  an  assent  to 
tin-  Hill  for  excluding  Bishops  from  Parliament  and  political 
power  ?  Here,  at  all  events,  would  he  not  make  a  stand  ? 
Most  men  expected  that  he  would,  and  nearly  all  the  faith- 
ful of  his  own  party  thought  that  he  should.  For  a  few 
days,  accordingly,  he  did  resist.  But  judge  of  the  sorrow 
and  consternation  among  the  friends  of  the  Church  every- 
where, and  judge  above  all  of  poor  Laud's  feelings  in  the 
Tower,  when  it  became  known  that  on  the  13th  of  February 
the  King  had  yielded.  On  that  day  he  gave  his  assent  by 
commission  to  two  Bills  together, — the  one  a  Bill  for  pressing 
soldiers  for  Ireland,  the  other  the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill. 

Where  had  this  lapse  of  the  King  from  his  duty  to  the  Church 
taken  place?  Where  but  in  Canterbury  itself,  where  he  chanced 
to  be  for  a  day  or  two,  on  his  way  to  Dover  to  see  his  wife  and 
daughter  embark  for  Holland  ?  True,  in  the  very  fact  of  his 
being  then  there,  and  on  that  errand,  Clarendon  finds  the 
reason  for  his  yielding.  The  Act,  Clarendon  himself  thinks, 
was  one  of  the  King's  blunders.  It  shook  to  the  foundations 
the  faith  that  many  of  his  most  devoted  subjects  had  hitherto 
reposed  in  him.  It  strengthened  the  hands  of  his  opponents 
for  anything  they  might  yet  do  against  Episcopacy,  by  beget- 
ting a  belief  among  the  King's  lay  adherents  that  the  cause 
of  Episcopacy  was  de  facto  defunct,  and  that  it  was  unneces- 
sary in  future  to  encumber  their  allegiance  to  monarchy  with 
any  care  for  the  remaining  stump  of  Prelacy  in  the  Church. 
From  this  one  infers  that  Clarendon  himself,  then  Mr.  Hyde, 
disapproved  of  the  act  at  the  tima  But  he  tells  us  that 
"  those  of  greatest  trust  about  the  King  "  agreed  in  persuading 
him  to  it,  urging  many  obvious  reasons  of  immediate  policy, 
and  among  them  one  which  was  all-prevalent.  If  the  King 

»  Clar.  939-942  (Life) ;  Riwhworth,  IV.  519. 


352  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

should  have  to  begin  a  civil  war,  it  was  argued,  it  would  be 
better  for  him  to  begin  it  on  some  other  question  than  that  of 
the  political  rights  of  an  order  already  so  much  crippled,  and 
so  useless  to  him,  as  the  Bishops.  For  example,  there  was  the 
great  Militia  business  which  the  Parliament  were  now  stir- 
ring,— the  question  of  the  right  of  Parliament  to  prescribe  to 
the  King  in  such  matters  as  the  command  of  the  Forts  of 
the  kingdom,  and  the  levying,  training,  and  officering  of  the 
Forces.  Would  not  that  be  a  better  question  on  which  to 
make  a  final  stand  ?  There  was  already  a  considerable 
opposition  in  the  Lords  to  the  Bill  of  the  Commons  on  this 
question,  and  there  might  be  a  much  more  powerful  rally  of 
the  King's  friends  on  it  than  on  any  question  of  the  mere 
status  of  Bishops.  Besides,  by  yielding  in  this  business  of 
the  Bishops,  might  not  the  King  avert  the  Militia  business, 
or  get  it  postponed  ?  Among  the  advisers  who  so  argued,  if 
antecedents  are  to  be  trusted  to,  must  certainly  have  been 
Falkland.  Unless  he  had  changed  his  mind,  the  restriction 
of  the  power  of  the  Bishops  must  have  been  pleasing  to  him 
on  its  own  account.  But  there  was  a  still  more  potent 
adviser  in  the  Queen.  Caring  little,  on  her  own  account, 
for  Bishops  of  any  Protestant  denomination,  and,  indeed, 
instructed,  Clarendon  hints,  by  her  spiritual  advisers  that 
the  duty  of  Eoman  Catholics  might  lie  in  contributing  to 
the  extinction  of  such  anomalies,  she  not  only  adopted  the 
arguments  of  the  King's  other  advisers,  but  added  an  argu- 
ment of  her  own.  If  the  King  refused  his  assent  to  the 
Bishops  Exclusion  Bill,  would  there  not  be  fresh  tumults, 
and  might  not  her  own  departure  from  the  kingdom  be 
prevented,  and  the  whole  plan  perilled  of  which  that  was 
a  part  ?  Probably  neither  this  argument  nor  all  the  others 
together  would  have  carried  the  point  but  for  a  course  of 
reasoning  which  went  on  more  peculiarly  in  the  mind  of 
Charles  himself.  A  lover  of  the  Church  and  a  Laudian 
as  he  certainly  was,  Charles  would  probably  have  resisted 
the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill  to  the  end  if  he  had  considered 
any  assent  he  might  give  to  it,  as  circumstances  then 
were,  binding  when  circumstances  should  alter.  What 


1641-2.]  BISHOPS  EXCLUSION  BILL  PASSED.  353 

says  Clarendon  ?  "  An  opinion  that  the  violence  and  force 
"  used  in  procuring  it  rendered  it  absolutely  invalid  and 
"  void  made  the  confirmation  of  it  less  considered,  as  not 
"  being  of  strength  to  make  that  act  good  which  was  in  itself 
"  null."  In  other  words,  the  King  gave  his  assent  to  the 
Bishops  Exclusion  Bill  chiefly  because  he  did  not  consider 
that  the  assent  had  any  meaning  or  inferred  any  obligation.1 

Meanwhile  the  two  Houses,  not  too  curiously  scrutinizing 
the  King's  motives,  were  exultant  over  his  act.  The  King's 
assent  to  the  two  Bills,  of  which  the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill 
was  one,  was  signified  on  the  14th  of  February,  and  at  the 
same  time  there  was  a  gracious  message  to  both  Houses  from 
his  Majesty,  to  the  effect  that  he  would  gratify  their  desires 
for  religious  reformation  in  every  way.  For  example,  he  would 
execute  the  laws  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  issue,  if 
required,  an  immediate  proclamation  for  the  expulsion  of 
all  Romish  priests  from  the  kingdom.  "  Concerning  the 
"  government  and  liturgy  of  the  Church,"  he  would  "  refer 
"  that  whole  consideration  to  the  wisdom  of  his  Parliament," 
only  desiring  not  to  be  pressed  to  any  farther  single  act  on 
his  part  till  the  whole  should  be  "  so  digested  and  settled  by 
"  both  Houses  that  his  Majesty  might  see  what  was  fit  to  be 
"  left  as  well  as  what  was  fit  to  be  taken  away."  Nothing 
could  be  more  satisfactory  ;  and  the  two  Houses  thanked  his 
Majesty  accordingly.2 

So  far  as  the  King's  assent  to  the  Bishops  Exclusion  Bill 
was  a  device  for  facilitating  the  Queen's  departure  out  of 
England,  it  was  perfectly  successful.  On  the  23rd  of 
February  Charles  saw  her  on  board  ship  at  Dover,  together 
with  the  Princess  of  Orange  (i.e.  the  King's  eldest  daughter, 
Mary,  then  only  ten  years  of  age,  but  married,  or  affianced, 
since  May  2,  1640,  to  William  of  Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange, 
by  whom  she  was  afterwards  the  mother  of  William  III. 
<>f  Kngland).  Returning  from  Dover  to  Greenwich,  where 
the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke  of  York  joined  him,  and 
still  avoiding  London,  (  linl>  passed  northward  by  degrees,  on 

1  Par!.  HM.  II.  10*7  :  .iii'i  riar.  \>\>.  171,  172.  •  Rtrl.  Hist.  II.  1088—0, 

VOL.  II  2  A 


354  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

his  way  to  York.  He  was  at  Theobalds,  in  Herts,  on  the 
28th  of  February,  at  Eoyston  on  the  3rd  of  March,  at  New- 
market on  the  7th,  at  Huntingdon  on  the  14th,  at  Newark 
on  the  17th,  at  Doncaster  on  the  18th,  and  at  York  on 
the  19th.1 

Perceptibly,  as  Charles  thus  moved  north  and  farther  and 
farther  away  from  London,  he  changed  his  tone  with  the 
Parliament.  He  had  yielded  on  the  Church  question ;  but 
there  was  that  other  great  question,  already  in  discussion 
between  him  and  the  Parliament  when  his  assent  to  the 
Bishops  Exclusion  Bill  was  given, — the  question  of  THE 
MILITIA  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  This  great  constitutional  question, 
which  the  Commons  had  long  been  agitating  in  the  back- 
ground, had  at  length  been  definitely  brought  to  a  bearing  by 
an  Ordinance  of  the  Commons,  Feb.  9,  1641-2,  for  settling 
the  power  of  the  Militia  in  the  several  counties  in  certain 
persons  to  be  presently  named.  Actually,  within  the  next  day 
or  two,  a  list  of  persons  deemed  fit  for  the  supreme  mili- 
tary power  in  the  different  counties  was  drawn  up  by  the 
Commons.  "  Eesolved  that  the  Earl  of  Holland  shall  be 
nominated  by  this  House  to  be  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Berkshire  " ; 
"  Eesolved  that  the  Earl  of  Bolingbroke  shall  be  nominated  by 
this  House  to  be  Lord-Lieutenant  of  the  county  of  Bedford  "  ; 
so  the  Commons  began  February  1 0  ;  and  on  that  and  the 
following  day  they  traversed,  in  near  alphabetical  order,  all 
the  counties  of  England  and  Wales,  nominating  some  great 
nobleman,  or  other  very  distinguished  person,  for  the 
lord-lieutenancy  of  each,  always  on  the  rule  that  the  same 
person  might  have  two  shires  under  his  command,  but  no 
more.  On  the  12th  there  was  a  supplementary  Eesolution 
for  the  City  of  London,  vesting  the  government  and  ordering 
of  its  Militia  in  nineteen  persons,  of  whom  Major-General 
Skippon  was  one,  six  were  aldermen,  and  the  rest  citizens. 
On  the  16th  of  February  the  Ordinance,  duly  engrossed,  and 
with  all  the  names  inserted,  went  up  to  the  Lords  ;  where,  "  it 
being  put  to  the  question,  it  was  resolved  That  this  Ordi- 
nance shall  pass,  and  be  presented  to  his  Majesty."  Thus,  no 

1  Parl.  Hist.  II.  1100 ;  Rushworth,  IV.  484. 


1641-2.]  THE  MILITIA  QUESTION.  355 

sooner  had  the  King  yielded  on  the  question  of  the  Bishops 
than  he  had  found  himself  assailed  on  the  most  essential 
question  of  his  own  prerogative.  Till  the  Queen  was  safely 
gone  he  had  staved  off  the  matter ;  but  no  sooner  was  she 
gone,  and  he  had  passed  London  on  his  way  north,  than  he 
had  given  signs  that  on  this  question  at  all  events  he  would 
be  immovable.  From  Theobalds  on  the  28th  of  February 
he  had  sent  such  an  answer  to  the  representation  of  the 
two  Houses  respecting  the  Militia  Ordinance  that  the  Houses 
had  voted  it  a  "  direct  denial."  Then,  at  each  stage  of  his 
journey  north,  messages  on  the  same  subject  pursuing  him, 
expressed  more  and  more  resolutely  by  the  two  Houses, 
he  also  had  waxed  firmer  and  firmer.  To  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, who  had  been  sent  to  persuade  him,  if  possible,  to 
yield  the  power  of  the  Militia  to  Parliament,  his  answer 
at  Newmarket  on  the  10th  of  March  had  been  "  No,  by  God ; 
not  for  an  hour"  ] 

1  Commons  and  Lords  Journals  of  tho  days  cited  ;  Hush  worth,  IV.  520—533  ; 
Parl.  Hist  II.  1097—1127. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

TWO    MORE    ANTI-EPISCOPAL    PAMPHLETS    OF    MILTON. 

OUR  last  sight  of  Milton  was  in  July  1641,  or  just  before 
the  King's  visit  to  Scotland,  and  the  symptoms  of  lull  and 
reaction  which  accompanied  that  event.  He  had  then  come 
forth  as  a  resolute  Parliamentarian  writer,  a  Eoot- and- Branch 
pamphleteer.  He  had  given  three  Anti-Episcopal  pamphlets 
to  the  world  in  quick  succession  :  his  large  maiden-pamphlet 
entitled  Of  Reformation  and  the  Causes  that  hitherto  have 
Hindered  it ;  his  slighter  pamphlet  entitled  Of  Prelatical 
Episcopacy,  in  reply  to  Usher's  deduction  of  Episcopacy  from 
Apostolical  times ;  and  his  merciless  personal  onslaught  on 
Bishop  Hall,  entitled  Animadversions  on  the  Remonstrant's 
Defence  against  Smectymnuus.  Since  then  he  had  been 
living,  as  before,  with  his  two  nephew-pupils,  in  Aldersgate 
Street.  He  may  have  taken  an  autumn  holiday  somewhere 
during  a  part  of  the  time  of  the  King's  absence  in  Scotland 
and  the  Eecess  of  Parliament.  But  from  the  time  of  the 
reassembling  of  the  Parliament  (Oct.  20,  1641)  we  are  to 
suppose  him  domiciled  again  in  London  for  observation  and 
work.  The  winter  had  passed ;  and  it  was  now  March 
1641-2. 

There  are  some  rather  curious  traces  of  Milton  during 
those  months  as  a  London  citizen  and  taxpayer.  It  may  be 
remembered  that,  in  June  1641,  the  Parliament  had  decreed 
a  Poll-tax  on  all  English  subjects  in  order  to  clear  off  the 
expenses  of  the  English  and  Scottish  armies  in  the  north. 
Great  care  seems  to  have  been  taken  in  London  to  secure 
complete  returns  of  all  persons  liable  to  this  poll-tax ;  and, 
as  every  person,  of  either  sex,  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 


1641-2.]  MILTON  AND  TIIK  TOLL-TAX  OF  1641.  357 

not  a  pauper,  was  liable,  the  London  poll-tax  returns  of  1641, 
if  they  could  be  all  recovered,  would  be  about  the  most  in- 
teresting possible  repertory  of  information  respecting  persons 
and  places  in  the  London  of  that  date.  For  example,  though 
we  should  have  known  independently  that  Milton  then  lived 
in  Aldersgate  Street,  and  even  that  he  lived  in  a  garden-house 
there  at  the  end  of  an  entry,  we  should  not  have  been  able 
to  fix  the  part  of  Aldersgate  Street  where  this  entry  was 
but  for  a  particular  record  in  the  Exchequer,  which  is  in 
fact  one  of  the  returns  for  the  aforesaid  poll-tax,  and  is 
entitled  "  A  Book  of  the  Names  and  Surnames,  Degrees, 
Ranks,  and  Qualities  of  all  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Ward  of 
Aldersgate,  London,  July  1641."  It  is  from  this  document 
that  we  learn  that  the  part  of  Aldersgate  Street  in  which 
Milton  resided  was  that  known  as  "  the  Second  Precinct  of 
St.  Botolph  Parish";  that  he  had  a  servant  named  Jane  Yates  ; 
and  that  among  his  neighbours  in  the  same  precinct,  or 
close  by,  were  his  old  friend  and  schoolmaster  Alexander 
Gill  the  younger,  Sir  Thomas  Cecil,  Mr.  Auditor  Povey,  Mrs. 
Pallavicini,  Dr.  Theodore  Diodati,  the  father  of  his  deceased 
friend  Charles  Diodati,  and  others  already  mentioned.  The 
document  does  not  give  the  sums  at  which  the  different 
persons  were  rated  for  the  poll-tax  ;  but,  as  the  rate  for  an 
Esquire,  or  a  Doctor  of  Law  or  Physic,  was  10/.,  and  the  rate 
for  a  Common-Councilman  or  person  of  similar  quality  5/., 
and  as  "every  man  that  may  dispend  50/.  a  year  of  his 
own  "  was  rated  at  2/.,  we  cannot  suppose  Milton  let  off  under 
this  last  sum.  Jane  Yates,  his  servant,  had  to  pay  at  least 
6rf.  But,  whatever  the  sum  was,  Milton  was  in  no  hurry  to 
pay  it.  In  a  subsequent  Exchequer  paper,  entitled  "  The 
Names  of  those  who  have  not  paid  us  of  the  Gentry  in  the 
Second  Precinct,"  Milton  is  named  as  one  of  the  defaulters. 
(Jill  and  Mrs.  Pallavicini  were  in  his  company  in  this  respect, 
as  also  was  Dr.  Diodati,  whose  unpaid  rate  must  have  been 
101.  As  the  date  of  this  document  is  not  given,  we  may 
suppose,  if  we  like,  that  Milton's  neglect  to  pay  arose  from 
lii-  being  out  of  town  when  the  collection  was  made;  but 
it  is  quite  as  likely  that  it  was  intentional.  He  can  hardly, 


358  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

indeed,  have  objected  to  giving  21.  or  so  towards  indemnifying 
the  Scots,  who  at  that  time,  as  we  shall  see,  were  high  in  his 
esteem.  On  the  contrary,  he  may  have  desired  not  to  part 
with  the  Scots  too  soon,  and  may  therefore  have  deferred  to 
the  last  moment  a  contribution  which  was  to  go  partly  to 
that  result.  That,  in  any  case,  Milton's  delay  in  paying  his 
poll-tax  did  not  proceed  either  from  insufficient  means,  or 
from  niggardliness  in  a  public  cause,  is  interestingly  proved 
by  a  third  local  record.  This  is  a  list  of  persons  in  the 
same  Second  Precinct  of  St.  Botolph's  Parish  in  the  Ward  of 
Aldersgate,  who,  in  January  1641-2,  contributed  towards 
the  "  Collection  for  Ireland," — i.e.  towards  a  fund  raised  for 
the  relief  of  the  Irish  Protestants.  As  we  shall  presently 
see,  Milton  was  vehemently  interested  in  the  condition  of 
the  poor  English  and  Scots  in  Ireland,  victims  of  the  Irish 
Eebellion.  But  in  this  document  we  have  a  pecuniary 
measure  of  his  interest.  While  wealthy  neighbours  of  his 
in  Aldersgate  Street,  such  as  Mr.  Auditor  Povey,  with  his 
household  of  four  servants,  and  Mr.  Matthews,  with  a  like 
establishment,  contributed  II.  each,  and  while  the  highest 
sum  else  contributed  in  the  whole  precinct  was  2/.,  Milton's 
contribution  was  4:1.  It  is  as  if  now  some  man  of  moderate 
means  in  London,  from  interest  in  some  public  object,  were 
to  subscribe  fifteen  or  twenty  guineas,  while  the  subscription 
of  his  wealthiest  neighbour  was  seven  or  ten  guineas.1 

Milton,  indeed,  was  now  in  a  position  to  have  his  actions 
in  such  matters  observed.  Although  his  three  Anti-Epi- 
scopal pamphlets  had  been  anonymous,  there  was  no  secret 
as  to  their  authorship.  There  must  have  been  a  good  deal  of 
visiting  at  the  house  in  Aldersgate  Street  on  account  of  them, 

1  My  authority  for  the  statements  in  might  enable  any   one  afterwards  to 

this  paragraph  is  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  find  them. — There  are  various  instances 

Hunter  in  his  tract  entitled  Milton  :  of  generosity  in  the  matter  of  relief  to 

a  Skeaf^of  Gleanings  (1850,  pp.  24—27).  Ireland.     Thus,  on  the  25th  of  April 

The  original  Exchequer  Records  cited  1642,  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  offered  se- 

there  as  having  been  seen  by  Mr  Hun-  curity  for  a  contribution  of  50£.  a  year 

ter  have  been  inquired  after  by  me,  but  for  this  purpose  while  the  Rebellion 

without  success.     This  does  not  invali-  should  last,  and  was  thanked  by  the 

date  Mr.   Hunter's  testimony,  for   he  Commons  for  the  same.     On  the  same 

was  a  man  to  be  thoroughly  trusted  in  day  Mr  George  Peard  promised  201.  a 

such  matters  ;  but  it  was  a  decided  year,  and  was  also  thanked.    (Commons 

neglect  in  him  not  to  give  such  exact  Journals  of  that  day.) 
references  to  the  documents  cited  as 


1641-2.]       MILTON'S  FOKMEK  I-AMI-HLKTS  TAI.KKD  OF.  359 

and  Milton's  name  must  have  been  heard  in  connexion  with 
them  in  places  where  he  was  not  known  personally.  Young 
and  the  other  four  Smectymnuan  ministers,  for  example,  can 
hardly  have  been  silent  about  this  brother-pamphleteer  of 
theirs,  who  had  been  in  the  Smectymnuan  counsels  from  the 
first,  and  whose  last  pamphlet  was  avowedly  written  in  aid 
of  the  Smectymnuans.  But,  apart  from  neighbourship  or 
acquaintanceship,  there  was  enough  in  the  pamphlets  them- 
selves to  cause  an  inquisitiveness  respecting  their  author 
among  both  friends  and  foes  of  his  principles.  Proof  of  this, 
as  respects  foes  of  his  principles,  might  be  produced  in  the 
form  of  angry  allusions  to  the  pamphlets  occurring  in  con- 
temporary writings.  One  instance  of  the  kind  may  be 
given : — There  was  not  a  better  soul  breathing,  and  cer- 
tainly not  a  more  quiet  and  kindly  English  clergyman,  than 
Thomas  Fuller,  Rector  of  Broad  Windsor,  Dorsetshire,  but 
now  much  in  London,  and  known  as  a  preacher  there.  He 
was  exactly  of  Milton's  own  age;  he  had  been  Milton's 
coeval  at  Cambridge  ;  and,  like  Milton,  he  was  destined  to  be 
remembered  in  the  world  of  English  letters.  His  greater  his- 
torical works,  which  were  to  preserve  the  memory  of  his  in- 
dustry, his  moderation  and  candour,  his  lucid  intelligence,  and 
his  quaint  and  delicious  wit,  were  yet  to  come ;  but  he  had 
published  one  or  two  things,  including  his  History  of  the  Holy 
War.  As  a  work  to  follow  that,  he  had  been  engaged  since 
1640,  partly  in  his  Dorsetshire  Rectory,  and  partly  in  London, 
on  the  collection  of  short  essays  and  popular  biographic 
sketches  now  known  as  his  Holy  and  Profane  State.  The 
work  was  not  published  till  1642,  when  it  appeared  as  a  folio 
volume,  with  cuts,  from  the  Cambridge  press ;  but  it  had  been 
in  manuscript  nearly  a  year  before  it  was  published ;  and 
therefore  the  allusion  made  in  one  of  the  sketches  in  it  to 
Milton's  maiden-pamphlet,  Of  Reformation  and  tlie  Caitses  tlvat 
hitherto  have  hindered  it,  may  be  considered  as  the  earliest 
recognition  of  that  pamphlet  by  any  critic  of  note  to  us  now. 
Whatever  Fuller  may  have  thought  of  the  pamphlet  as  a 
whole,  there  were  passages  in  it  that  shocked  him.  More 
particularly  he  was  shocked  by  those  passages  in  which 


360  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Milton,  in  his  zeal  against  bishops,  had  not  hesitated  to  speak 
irreverently  even  of  such  bishops  as  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and 
Ridley,  fathers  and  martyrs  of  English  Protestantism  though 
they  were.  So  much  had  this  grated  on  the  good  Fuller 
that,  in  his  little  sketch  called  "  The  Life  of  Bishop 
Kidley,"  he  cannot  forbear  bringing  the  pamphlet  and  its 
anonymous  author  (though  Fuller  may  have  known  who 
he  was)  sharply  to  book.  "  One  might  have  expected/'  he 
says,  speaking  of  the  martyr-bishops  of  Mary's  days,  "  that 
"  these  worthy  men  should  have  been  re-estated  in  their 
"  former  honour ;  whereas  the  contrary  hath  come  to  pass. 
"  For  some  who  have  an  excellent  faculty  in  uncharitable 
"  synecdoches,  to  condemn  a  life  for  an  action,  and  taking 
"  advantage  of  some  faults  in  them,  do  much  condemn  them. 
"  And  one  lately  hath  traduced  them  with  such  language  as 
"  neither  beseemed  his  parts,  whosoever  he  was  that  spake  it, 
"  nor  their  piety  of  whom  it  was  spoken.  If  pious  Latimer, 
"  whose  bluntness  was  incapable  of  flattery,  had  his  simplicity 
"  abused  with  false  informations,  he  is  styled  '  another  Dr. 
"  '  Shaw,  to  divulge  in  his  sermon  forged  accusations.'  Cranmer 
"  and  Ridley,  for  some  failings,  are  styled  '  the  common  stales 
"  '  to  countenance,  with  their  prostituted  gravities,  every  politic 
"  '  fetch  which  was  then  on  foot,  as  often  as  the  potent  statists 
"  '  pleased  to  employ  them.'  "  Here,  after  a  further  quotation 
or  two  from  the  impious  pamphleteer,  who  is  referred  to  in  a 
note  as  "  Author  of  the  book  lately  printed  of  Causes  Hinder- 
ing Reformation  in  England,"  Fuller  holds  up  his  hands  in 
pious  sorrow.1 

In  the  pamphlet  itself  Milton  had  anticipated  such  pious 
sorrow,  and  had  made  very  light  of  it,  or,  rather,  had  most 
seriously  protested  that  he  could  take  no  account  of  it. 
He  had  invoked  Almighty  God  to  witness  that,  wherever  in 
that  writing  he  had  spoken  "  plainly  and  roundly  "  of  the 
faults  and  blemishes  of  martyrs  and  other  great  men,  it  had 
been  "  of  mere  necessity."  He  had  resolved,  he  said,  "  to 
"  vindicate  the  spotless  Truth  from  an  ignominious  bondage, 
"  whose  native  worth  is  now  become  of  such  a  low  esteem  that 

1  Fuller's  Holy  and  Profane  State  :  edit.  1841 ;  pp.  274,  275. 


1641-2.]  MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMPHLET.  361 

"  she  is  like  to  find  small  credit  with  us  for  what  she  can  say 
"  unless  she  can  bring  a  ticket  from  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and 
"  Ridley."  Better,  he  declared,  that  those  names  were  utterly 
abolished,  like  the  brazen  serpent,  than  that  they  should 
come  to  be  idolized  against  the  Truth.1  But  Fuller  had  either 
not  read  this  explanation,  or  had  not  thought  it  adequate ; 
and  what  a  man  so  mild  as  Fuller  felt  must  have  been  felt 
in  stronger  degree  by  others.2  Nor  had  Milton's  two  later 
pamphlets  been  of  a  kind  to  improve  his  reputation  for 
meekness  and  respect  for  dignities.  To  all  to  whom  a  living 
Bishop  was  an  object  of  veneration,  his  treatment  of  Hall 
in  his  Animadversions  must  have  seemed  atrocious,  if  not 
blasphemous. 

Blasphemy,  as  some  thought  it,  or  noble  and  free  opinion, 
as  others  may  have  thought  it,  there  was  more  of  the  like 
matter  to  come  from  the  "  pretty  garden  house  "  in  Aldersgate 
Street.  As  near  as  I  can  calculate,  it  was  between  the  date 
of  the  King's  departure  from  Whitehall  after  the  failure  of 
his  coup  tfttat  (Jan.  10,  1641-2)  and  his  arrival  at  York 
(March  19, 1641-2)  that  Milton's  fourth  Anti-Episcopal  pam- 
phlet was  published.  It  is  a  larger  pamphlet  than  any  of  its 
three  predecessors,  and  more  elaborately  written  than  any  of 
them  except  that  Of  Reformation ;  and  Milton  must  have 
been  engaged  on  it  for  at  least  a  month  or  so  before  its 
publication.  In  its  original  form  it  is  a  small  quarto  of  65 
pages  of  close  type,  with  this  title  :  "  The  Reason  of  Church- 
government  urgd  against  Prelaty,  by  Mr.  John  Milton  :  In  two 
Books :  London,  Printed  by  E.  G.  for  John  Rothwell,  and  are 
to  be  sold  at  the  Sunne  in  Paul's  Churchyard,  1641."  8  Here, 

1  Of    Reformation,     &c.  :     Milton's  '  '  with  their  prostituted  gravity  every 
Work*,  III.  9,  10.  '  '  politic  fetch ' !     It  was  truly  said  by 

2  The    Irish     Bishop    Brnmhull,    in  '  Seneca  that  the  most  contemptible 
his  Strptnt  Salve,   published  at  Dub-  '  persons    ever     have     the      loosest 
lin  in  1643,  repeats  Fuller's  allusion  to  '  tongues "  !      For    this    reference    to 
Milton's  maiden-pamphlet  more  tartly,  Brain  hull's  first  mention  of  Milton,  as 
thus  :     "  Cranmer,    Ridley,    Latimer,  for  other  kindnesses,  I  am  indebted  to 

'  Hooper,  were  all  Bishops  ;  Coverdale  Mr.   J.  E.  B.  Mayor,  M.A.,  Fellow  of 

'  exercised  episcopal  jurisdiction.  With  St.  John's,  Cambridge. 
4  what  indignation  do  all  good    I'r<>  »  Among  the  copies  of  this  pamphlet 

1  testants  see  those  blessed  men  styled  in  tho   British   Museum  there  is  one 

'  now  in    print    by  a    young    novice  (King's  Pamphlets,  vol.  K.  137)  with  A'./ 

'  'halting  and  time-serving  prelates,'  Don<>  J  M/W/X  written  on  the  title-page 

'  and  '  common  stales  to  countenance  in,  as  1  think,  Milton's  own  hand,— one 


362  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

it  will  be  observed,  Milton  for  the  first  time  throws  off  the 
anonymous.  The  publisher,  it  will  also  be  observed,  is  not 
the  "  Thomas  Underhill "  who  had  published  the  three  pre- 
ceding pamphlets,  but  "John  Eothwell."  He  was  the  same 
who  had  published  the  pamphlets  of  the  Smectymnuans 
against  Hall.  He  may  have  been  a  relative  of  the  "  Henry 
Kothwell "  who  was  servant  or  apprentice  to  Milton's  father 
in  1631.1 

The  pamphlets  on  the  Church  question  that  had  been 
produced  since  Milton's  last  might  be  counted  by  scores,  if 
not  by  hundreds.  The  great  majority  of  them,  like  Milton's 
own,  were  unregistered ;  for  the  press  had  burst  all  bounds 
of  licensing,  and  could  not  be  brought  within  those  bounds 
again  by  any  Parliamentary  orders  or  threats.  Among  those 
that  were  registered  may  be  mentioned  A  Discourse  opening 
the  nature  of  Episcopacy,  by  Lord  Brooke,  one  of  the  chief,  if 
not  the  chief,  of  the  extreme  Puritans  among  the  Peers.  It 
was  published  in  Nov.  164 1,2  and  must  have  been  read  by 
Milton;  who  afterwards,  when  the  noble  author  was  dead, 
referred  to  him  in  terms  of  high  and  touching  eulogy,  ex- 
pressly on  account  of  it.3  But  not  Lord  Brooke,  with  all  his 
reputation  for  philosophic  ability,  and  not  any  other  of  the 
hundred  pamphleteers  that  were  writing  on  the  Church 
question,  can  have  been  felt  as  such  a  voice  of  power,  where- 
ever  there  were  competent  readers,  as  this  all-daring  "  Mr. 
John  Milton."  Whoever  reads  the  pamphlet  even  now,  or 


of  the  presentation  copies  he  sent  to  l  See  ant$,  p.  99. 

friends.      The  pamphlet,  like  its  pre-  2  Here    is    the    full    title    of    Lord 

decessors,  not  being  registered  in  the  Brooke's    pamphlet  :    "  A     Discourse 

Stationers'    Books,   we    have    not    that  opening   the  nature  of  that  Episcopacy 

means  of  determining  the  exact  time  of  which  is  exercised  in  England  ;    wherein, 

its  publication.     But    the    year    1641  with  all  humility,  are  represented  some 

on  the  title-page  fixes  March  24,  1641-2,  considerations  tending  to  the  much  desired 

as  the  limit  on  one  side  ;  and  there  is  Peace,  and  long  expected  Reformation,  of 

internal  evidence  that  the  date  of  pub-  this  our  Mother   Church :  By  the  Right 

lication  must  have  been  after  the  pre-  Honourable      Robert     Loi-d      Brooke  : 

ceding  Christmas.     The  Irish  Insurrec-  Printed  by  R.  C.  for  Samuel  Cartright, 

tion  is  spoken  of  as  still  raging, — which  and  are  to  be  sold  at  the  signe  of  the  Hand 

dates  the  pamphlet  after  Oct.    1641  ;  and  Bible  in  Duck  Lane,  1641."    Tho 

and  the  imprisonment  of  the  twelve  date  of  the  publication  I  have  ascer- 

bishops  in  the  Tower  is  mentioned, —  tained  from  the  Registers  of  the  Sta- 

which  dates  it  after  Christmas  1641.  tioners'  Company,  where  it  is  entered 

January  or  February  1641-2  is  there-  Nov.  9,  1641. 

fore  the  probable  month.  3  In  the  Areopagitica. 


1641-2.]     MILTON'S  FOURTH   I'AMrill.KT:    OXFORD  TRACTS.         363 

indeed  any  other  of  those  early  pamphlets  of  Milton,  has 
his  mind  thrown  into  the  strangest  tumult. 

The  pamphlet  differs  in  its  aim  and  scope  from  any  of  its 
predecessors.  In  his  first  and  second  Milton  had  adopted 
mainly  the  historical  method ;  in  the  third  he  had  been  cri- 
tical and  personal ;  but  here  he  proposes  to  argue  against 
Prelacy  on  grounds  of  philosophic  reason,  or  from  a  study 
of  the  principles  of  Christianity  and  human  nature.  By  the 
title  "  Reason  of  Church  Government "  Milton  means  what 
in  modern  language  would  be  called  "  Theory  of  Church 
Government " ;  and  his  pamphlet  is,  in  fact,  a  treatise  on  the 
Relations  between  Church  and  State.  In  discussing  this 
subject  he  adopts  a  free,  discursive  method,  bringing  in  high 
speculative  views  of  his  own  as  to  the  ends  of  government,  and 
the  possibilities  of  human  society,  if  adequately  instructed, 
inspired,  and  controlled.  To  a  certain  extent,  however,  he 
has  in  view,  for  polemic  reference  throughout,  a  collection  of 
tracts  on  the  other  side  that  had  then  recently  been  published 
with  this  title :  "  Certaine  Brief e  Treatises,  ivrittcn  by  Diverse 
Learned  Men,  concerning  the  ancient  and  moderne  Government 
of  the  Church :  Oxford,  printed  by  Leonard  Lichfield,  Printer 
to  the  University:  Anno  Dom.  1641." 

This  curious  collection  of  tracts  seems  to  have  been  in- 
tended by  its  Oxford  editor  or  editors  as  an  authoritative 
exposition,  both  historical  and  rational,  of  the  grounds  of 
Episcopacy,  but  not  so  much  in  its  Laudian  form  as  in  that 
more  moderate  form,  represented  by  some  of  the  greater 
Reformed  divines,  and  now  by  Archbishop  Usher,  for  which 
alone  there  seemed  to  be  a  chance  left  in  England.  The 
collection,  accordingly,  is  made  up  of  scraps  or  fragments 
from  writers  of  high  reputation,  dead  and  living,  while  the 
whole  is  intended  as  a  counteractive  to  Root-and-Branch 
opinions,  and  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  an  eclectic  or  liberal 
Episcopacy.  An  analysis  of  the  contents  of  the  volume, 
which  is  now  rare,  may  be  of  some  interest : — (1)  First  of  all, 
occupying  a  few  pages  only,  comes  A  Discovery  of  the  Causes 
of  the  continuance  of  these  Contentions  concerning  Church 
/;//  7iV /////>/  //W,-./.  It  may  have  l^en  an  ad- 


364  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

vantage  to  lead  off  with  Hooker's  name  ;  but  this  fragment  of 
his  consists  only  of  a  few  general  remarks,  like  this,  "  Want 
"  of  sound  proceeding  in  Church  controversies  hath  made  many 
"  more  stiff  in  error  now  than  before."-  —(2)  Of  more  impor- 
tance, and  occupying  nearly  forty  pages  of  the  volume,  is  A 
Summarie  View  of  the  Government  loth  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  whereby  the  Episcopall  Government  of  Christ's 
Church  is  vindicated  :  out  of  the  rude  draughts  of  Lancelot  An- 
drewes,  late  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Bishop  Andrewes,  though 
he  had  been  dead  sixteen  years,  was  well  remembered ;  and 
this  timely  recovery  of  a  few  manuscript  jottings  of  his  on  the 
subject  of  Episcopacy  may  have  been  considered  a  piece  of 
good  fortune.  They  are  really  only  jottings,  as  if  for  some 
intended  treatise,  and  their  argument  is  decidedly  more  in 
the  High  Church  strain  than  that  of  most  of  the  accom- 
panying tracts.  Andrewes  seeks  the  original  or  prototype  of 
Episcopal  government  and  sacerdotalism  in  the  forms  of  the 
old  Jewish  Priesthood.  The  Priesthood  among  the  Jews,  he 
says,  had  been  settled  by  God  in  the  one  tribe  of  Levi.  But, 
further,  Levi  having  three  sons, — Kohath,Gershon,and  Merari, 
—the  particular  line  of  Kohath  was  preferred  among  all  the 
Levites.  Again,  Kohath  having  four  sons, — Amram,  Izhar, 
Hebron,  and  Uzziel, — a  farther  precedency  was  vested  in  the 
family  of  Amram.  Finally,  of  Amram's  two  sons,  Aaron  and 
Moses,  Aaron  was  expressly  appointed  High  Priest.  Thus  there 
came  to  be  four  orders  or  gradations  of  Levites,  all  priests : 
Aaron  in  chief ;  the  other  descendants  of  Kohath  ;  the  descend- 
ants of  Gershon  ;  and  those  of  Merari.  These  inequalities 
and  superiorities  continued  under  Joshua,  the  Judges,  and 
the  Kings ;  the  Jewish  Priesthood  being  throughout  a  hier- 
archy. "  Why  may  not  the  like  be  for  the  government  of  the 
Church  ?  "  Andrewes  proceeds  to  ask.  It  ought  to  be,  he  says ; 
and  he  gives  a  table  of  what  he  thinks  the  correspondencies 
between  the  Jewish  sacerdotal  system  and  the  Christian. 
Aaron  has  his  only  antitype,  thinks  Andrewes,  in  Christ  him- 
self;  but  Eleazar,  Aaron's  son,  answers  to  the  Archbishop  in  the 
Christian  Church  ;  the  "  Princes  of  Priests  "  among  the  Jews 
correspond  to  Bishops  ;  the  ordinary  Priests  to  Presbyters  ; 


1641-2.]      MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMPHLET  :    OXFORD  TRACTS.       365 

the  "  Princes  of  Levites "  to  Archdeacons ;  the  ordinary 
Levites  to  Deacons ;  while  the  Nethinims,  or  servants  of  the 
Levites  (see  Ezra  viii.  20),  might  pair  off  with  modern  "  Clerks 
and  Sextons."  Pursuing  his  subject  into  the  New  Testament, 
Andrewes  finds  that  Bishops,  or  Overseers  of  the  other  Pres- 
byters, were  first  ordained  by  the  Apostles  themselves,  the 
occasion  of  their  appointment  having  been  perhaps  the  schisms 
that  arose  in  the  primitive  Church.  Moreover,  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists  over  particular  lands 
and  regions  as  the  scenes  of  their  labours, — Peter  to  Pontus, 
&c.,  John  to  Asia  and  Parthia,  Andrew  to  Scythia  and  the 
Euxine,  Matthew  to  Ethiopia,  &c., — he  finds  the  original  of 

diocesan  and   provincial  jurisdictions. (3)  Those  queer 

notes  of  Andrewes  are  followed  by  TJie  Originall  of  BisJwps 
and  Metropolitans,  briefly  laid  down  by  Martin  Bucer,  John 
Eainoldes,  and  James,  Archbishop  of  Armagh.  This  is,  in 
fact,  a  repetition,  with  additions,  of  that  previous  or  all  but 
contemporary  publication,  by  Usher,  or  under  his  name, 
entitled  "  The  Judgment  of  Doctor  Rainoldes,  &c."  of  which 
an  account  has  been  already  given  (see  ante  pp.  248 — 253), 
and  to  which  Milton  had  replied  specially  in  his  second 
pamphlet.  Reynolds's  Judgment  or  opinion  in  behalf  of  a 
Limited  or  merely  Presidential  Episcopacy,  as  traceable  to  the 
Apostolic  times,  is  again  quoted;  but  prefixed  to  it  is  an  opinion 
from  Bucer  to  the  same  general  effect ;  after  which  Usher's 
confirmations  of  the  same  view  are  repeated,  but  with  some 
fresh  remarks,  in  the  course  of  which  Usher  relapses  into  the 
Andrewes  kind  of  matter,  and  dwells  more  than  in  his  former 
tract  on  the  argument  from  the  analogy  of  the  Levites  and 
Aaronitic  Priesthood.—  —(4)  There  is,  next,  a  distinct  little 
essay  by  Usher,  entitled  A  Geographical!  and  Historical! 
Disquisition  touching  the  Lydian  or  Proconsular  Asia  and  tlie 
Seven  Metropoliticall  Churches  contained  therein :  by  the  said 
Archbishop  of  Armagh.  Here  we  have  an  extension,  by  the 
aid  of  geographical  learning,  of  Usher's  former  argument  for 

the  antiquity  of  Primacies  or  Archbishoprics. (5)  Next 

follows  A  Declaration  of  the  Patriarchal!  Government  of  the 
Ancient  Church:  !•?/  /•,',/"•„,;/  BretWOOd,  This  liivivw...,.!,  a 


366  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HTSTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

native  of  Chester,  educated  at  Oxford,  had  been  the  first 
Astronomy  Professor  in  Gresham  College,  London.  He  had 
been  much  respected  in  his  lifetime  for  his  learning ;  and, 
since  his  death  in  1613,  his  reputation  had  been  enhanced 
by  the  publication  from  his  manuscripts  of  several  works 
which  he  had  been  too  modest  to  give  to  the  world  himself, 
including  two  treatises  on  the  Sabbath.1  The  essay  of  his 
now  published,  and  which  apparently  saw  the  light  for  the 
first  time  in  this  Oxford  volume,  was  sure  to  attract  attention. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  clever  and  clear  little  tract, — the  best,  I  think, 
in  the  volume.  The  main  notion  is  that  the  organization  of 
the  early  Christian  Church  was  framed  on  the  model  of  the 
civil  organization  of  the  Eoman  Empire, — the  ordinary  Bishop 
corresponding  to  the  Governor  of  a  City,  the  Metropolitan  to 
the  chief  of  a  Province,  and  the  Primate  in  a  higher  sense 
still  to  the  chief  of  one  of  those  clusters  of  Provinces  which 
the  Romans  called  Dioceses,  and  which  were  equal  in  size 
to  large  modern  kingdoms.  In  the  development  of  this 
notion  the  following  questions  are  put  and  answered  : — First, 
"  Whether  every  Church  or  Bishop  at  the  time  of  the  Nicene 
"  Council  were  subject  to  one  of  the  three  Patriarchs  of  Rome, 
"  of  Alexandria,  and  of  Antiochia,  mentioned  in  the  sixth 
"  canon  of  that  Council  ?  "  To  this  Brerewood  answers  No, 
and  gives  his  reasons.  Secondly,  "  To  what  Patriarchate  was 
"  the  Church  and  Bishop  of  Carthage  subject, — to  Alexandria 
"  or  to  Rome  ?  "  To  neither,  answers  Brerewood  ;  the  Bishop 
of  Carthage  being  himself  a  Primate,  with  Patriarchal  juris- 
diction. Thirdly,  "  To  what  Patriarchate  belonged  Britain, — 
to  Rome,  or  to  what  other  ? "  Certainly  to  none,  argues 
Brerewood,  seeing  that  Britain  was  itself  one  of  the  six 
Dioceses  of  the  Western  Empire,  and  had  an  independent 
Primate  of  its  own  in  the  Archbishop  of  York.  In  short, 
Brerewood  holds  that  Primates  were  equivalent  on  the  whole 
to  Patriarchs,  though  there  may  have  been  some  vague  superi- 
ority in  the  latter  designation. (6)  After  Brere wood's 

interesting  dissertation  comes  a  tract  of  only  a  page  or  two, 

1  About  Brerewood,  see  Wood's  Ath.       Cheshire  ;  and  Cox's  Literature  of  the 
by  Bliss,  II.  139, 140  ;  Fuller's  Worthies,       Sabbath  Question  (1865),  I.  159,  160. 


1641-2.]    MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMI-IILF.T:  OXFORD  TRACTS.     367 


entitled  A  Brief e  Declaration  of  the  severall  formes  of  Govern- 
ment received  in  the  Reformed  Churches  beyond  the  Seas :  by  John 
Durel.  The  substance  of  this  tract  may  be  compressed  thus : — 
In  Sweden,  Limited  Episcopacy,  and  Bishops  in  Parliament, 
along  with  representatives  of  the  inferior  clergy ;  in  Denmark, 
and  the  German  Lutheran  states  and  cities,  Superintendents 
for  life,  presiding  in  Consistories ;  in  Holland,  by  recent 
arrangement,  a  temporary  superintending  power  given  to 
Deputies  of  Synod ;  in  Geneva  and  the  French  Calvinistic 
Churches,  no  fixed  Moderators  certainly,  but  the  eldest 
ministers  reverenced  and  deferred  to  in  some  undefined 
manner ;  in  Transsylvania,  Polonia,  and  Bohemia,  a  kind  of 
Bishops  called  Seniors.  In  short,  nowhere  perhaps  in  the 
Protestant  world,  unless  it  were  in  Scotland  since  1638, 
was  there  absolute  parity  of  Presbyters.1 (7)  The  last 


1  The  author  of  the  scrap  is  now 
identified  in  some  library  catalogues 
with  a  John  Durel,  a  native  of  St. 
Ueliere  in  Jersey,  who,  after  having 
been  a  student  in  Oxford  from  1640 
to  1642,  went  abroad,  completed  his 
studies  in  French  Protestant  Colleges, 
and  lived  in  France  for  a  good  many 
years  as  a  preacher  of  some  note,  but 
returned  to  England  at  the  Restora- 
tion, to  be  of  greater  note  as  minister 
of  the  French  Church  in  the  Savoy, 
London,  with  promotion  in  1663  to  be 
Prebendary  of  Salisbury  and  Canon  of 
Windsor,  and  in  1677  to  bo  Dean  of 
Windsor.  In  this  later  portion  of  his 
life  he  was  known  as  a  zealous  defender 
of  the  Restoration  government  of 
Charles  II. — the  most  celebrated  of  his 
writings  in  that  capacity  having  been  a 
small  quarto  volume  in  1662,  with  the 
title  "A  I'irir  i,f  tl,.  d'o.-rrnment  and 
tt'nrxtii'ji  <\f  (•'•*!  i"  (fa  Reformed 
Ckurche*  beyond  the  Seat:  tchtrein  it 
ikewed  their  Conformity  and  Agreement 
with  tl,.  <  7- »,-,/-  ",f  England atitu  fbtab- 
liihed  by  the  Aft  of  U*jfanm'tfi."  Th.j 
subject  of  this  volume,  and  the  very 
wording  of  its  title,  it  will  bo  observed, 
suggest  that  it  may  have  been  an  ex- 
pansion of  the  author's  hriuf  contribu- 
tion to  the  Oxford  collection  of  Pro- 
Episcopal  tracts  published  twenty-one 
years  before.  As  Durel,  however,  was 
then  but  an  undergraduate  of  Morton 
College, — not  more  than  sixteen  years 
of  ago,  if  Anthony  \V<M»<r>  an-mint  uf 
him  is  correct  (.I//.,  n,,,,,.  IV.  s; 


is  difficult  to  see  how  any  contribution 
of  his  could  have  been  admitted  into  a 
collection  of  excerpts  purporting  to  be 
from  the  writings  of  eminent  and 
authoritative  authors,  —  Hooker,  Bishop 
Andrewes,  Usher,  &c.  The  thing  is 
not  impossible  ;  but  I  confess  I  have 
doubts.  May  there  not  have  been  an 
older  John  Durel,  better  known  about 
the  year  1641  than  this  stripling  of 
Morton  College?  -  In  consequence, 
perhaps,  of  the  blurred  typography  of 
the  copy  of  the  rare  Oxford  volume  of 
1641  to  which  I  first  had  access,  I  had 
misread  the  words  "  by  John  Durel  "  in 
the  title  of  this  portion  of  its  contents, 
taking  them  to  DO  "by  John  Duree"  ; 
and  I  assumed,  therefore,  in  the  first 
edition  of  this  volume,  that  the  author 
was  JOHN  DDRIB  (called  sometimes 
DUIL&US  or  DURBB),  a  man  of  such 
European  celebrity  at  the  time  that 
his  appearance  in  company  even  with 
Usher  would  not  have  been  astonishing 
on  any  occasion,  while  his  appearaiMM 
as  a  special  authority  on  the  subject  of 
the  different  forms  of  government 
among  the  foreign  Protestant  Churches 
would  have  seemed  the  most  natural 
in  the  world.  The  mistake  was 


obligingly  pointed  out  to  mo  a  good 
while  ago  by  the  Rev.  Professor  Cand- 
lish  of  Glasgow  ;  and  I  am  glad  now  to 
have  the  opi>ortunity  of  rectifying  it. 
But,  while  this  John  Durio  must  there- 
fore l>o  unlinkod  from  his  former  con- 
:i  with  our  text  at  the  present 
l-.int,  ho  is  so  imjtortant  a  personage 


368 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


tract  in  the  collection  also  refers  to  the  foreign  Protestant 
Churches.  It  is  entitled  The  Lawfulnesse  of  the  Ordina- 
tion of  the  Ministers  of  these  Churches  maintained  against 
the  Romanists :  by  Francis  Mason.  It  is  an  extract,  apparently, 


in  Milton's  biography  that  it  may  be  as 
well  to  introduce  him  fully  in  this  foot- 
note : — Born  in  Scotland  in  or  about 
1600,  the  son  of  Mr.  Eobert  Dune, 
minister  of  Anstruther  in  Fifeshire,  he 
was  but  in  his  first  boyhood  when  the 
whole  future  of  his  life  was  changed  by 
his  father's  prominent  concern  in  an 
act  of  ultra-Presbyterian  zeal  on  the 
part  of  a  number  of  the  Scottish  clergy. 
This  was  the  attempt  to  hold  a  General 
Assembly  of  the  Kirk  at  Aberdeen  in 
July  1605,  in  defiance,  or  in  what  was 
represented  as  defiance,  of  a  prohibi- 
tion of  such  an  Assembly  proclaimed 
at  the  last  moment  by  the  Scottish 
Privy  Council  in  consequence  of  in- 
structions received  from  King  James 
in  London.  Mr.  Robert  Durie  of  An- 
struther was  one  of  six  principals  in 
this  affair  against  whom  King  James's 
wrath  was  so  relentless  that  it  took  the 
form  of  a  capital  prosecution  for  high 
treason  ;  and  the  result  was  that  in 
1606  all  the  six  left  Scotland  under 
sentence  of  banishment  for  life  from 
His  Majesty's  dominions.  Mr.  Durie 
settled  eventually  in  Holland,  where 
he  is  found  serving  as  minister  of  a 
Scottish  congregation  in  Leyden  from 
1609  to  1617.  His  son,  having  accom- 
panied him  into  exile,  must  have  been 
brought  up  mainly  in  Holland,  but  is 
reported  by  Anthony  Wood  (Fasti 
Oxon.  I.  420-22)  to  have  come  to 
Oxford  in  July  1624  as  a  "  sojourner  in 
the  University,"  chiefly  "for  the  sake 
of  the  public  library."  He  must  have 
gone  abroad  again  almost  immediately  ; 
for  it  was  shortly  after  this,  and  while 
he  was  still  a  young  man,  that  he  con- 
ceived, and  began  to  propagate  abroad, 
the  idea,  or  scheme,  or  crotchet,  which 
dominated  all  the  rest  of  his  life, 
and  made  him  ere  long  a  European 
celebrity.  This  was  the  idea  of  a 
Union  of  all  the  Protestant  Churches 
of  Europe,  or,  at  all  events,  of  the 
Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  Churches. 
The  idea,  I  find  from  one  of  his  own 
subsequent  writings  (An  Epistolary 
Discourse,  addressed  to  Thomas  Good- 
win and  Philip  Nye,  published  in  1642), 
had  seized  him  first,  or  first  taken  full 
possession  of  him,  on  a  visit  to  Prussia 
in  1628.  Once  conceived,  it  became 
permanent  in  his  mind.  Thenceforward 
all  his  travels,  all  his  interviews  with 


eminent  men  in  different  countries,  and 
all  his  correspondence,  were  dedicated 
to  what  he  called  his  "negotiation" — 
i.e.  his  effort  to  enlist  the  chiefs 
of  every  Protestant  community  in 
Europe  in  the  view  that  all  denomina- 
tions of  Protestants,  despite  their 
differences,  ought  to  be  united  in 
one  general  brotherhood.  By  the 
year  1637  he  had  had  access  to  the 
great  Grotius,  and  had  so  inoculated 
him  with  the  idea  that,  as  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  mention  (Vol. 
I.  pp.  752-4),  Grotius  was  then  in 
earnest  communication  on  the  subject 
with  Laud,  through  Lord  Scudamore, 
the  English  ambassador  at  Paris. 
Though  Durie  was  not  named  in  that 
account  of  the  correspondence  between 
Grotius  and  Laud,  my  authority  for 
the  account  (Gibson's  Parochial  History 
of  Door,  &c.,  1727)  contains  ample 
proof  that  Durie  was  in  the  back- 
ground all  the  while,  inspiring  Grotius, 
and  that  what  Grotius  urged  upon 
Laud,  and  Laud  thought  visionary  non- 
sense, was  but  a  Grotian  modification 
of  Durie's  idea.  Among  the  English 
ecclesiastics  besides  Laud  whom  Durie 
sought  strenuously  to  interest  in  his 
scheme  was  Bishop  Hall ;  but,  indeed, 
there  was  no  influential  man,  or  body 
of  men,  in  any  European  country  that 
escaped  his  communications.  Between 
1637  and  1641  he  seems  still  to  have 
been  travelling,  from  Holland,  through 
France  and  Germany,  to  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  interviewing  people  and  writ- 
ing letters.  In  1641  he  either  actually 
visited  England  again,  or  meditated 
such  a  visit,  fancying  he  saw  a  new 
opening  for  his  idea  in  the  general 
tumult  of  ecclesiastical  discussion  then 
in  progress  in  England.  It  is  certain 
that  he  was  in  correspondence,  in  be- 
half of  his  idea,  with  the  Scottish 
Covenanters  in  their  General  Assembly 
of  that  year  (Baillie's  Letters,  I.  364-5). 
He  is  found,  however,  residing  at  the 
Hague,  continuously  or  occasionally, 
from  June  1642  to  the  beginning  of 
1644 ;  after  which  last  date  we  shall 
hear  of  him  again  more  distinctly  as 
back  in  England.  Meanwhile,  in  proof 
of  his  European  celebrity,  I  may  refer 
to  the  article  on  him  in  Bayle's  Dic- 
tionary. 


1641-2.]     MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMPHLET  :  OXFORD  TRACTS.     369 

from  a  larger  work  of  the  same  author  entitled  "A  Vindication 
of  the  Church  of  England,"  &c.,  published  in  1613,  when  the 
author,  an  Oxford  man,  was  still  alive  and  Archdeacon  of  Nor- 
folk.1 It  is  a  hair-splitting  kind  of  thing,  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue  between  "  Philodox  and  Orthodox,"  but  makes  for  the 
general  cause  of  Episcopacy  by  this  conclusion :  "  Seeing  a 
"  Bishop  and  a  Presbyter  do  not  differ  in  order,  but  only  in 
"  preheminence  and  jurisdiction,  and  seeing  Calvin  and  Beza 
"  had  the  order  of  Priesthood  .  .  and  were  lawfully  chosen, 
"  the  one  after  the  other,  to  a  place  of  eminency  .  .  you 
"  cannot  deny  to  them  the  substance  of  the  Episcopal  office." 
Milton,  seizing  this  composite  collection  of  tracts  as  per- 
haps the  weightiest  and  wariest  manifesto  that  had  been  put 
forth  in  behalf  of  a  retention  of  Episcopacy  in  some  form  in 
the  Church  of  England,  keeps  it  in  view  throughout  his  pam- 
phlet. He  does  not,  indeed,  reply  formally  to  all  the  tracts. 
But  he  names  several  of  them, — Brerewood's  in  a  manner 
implying,  I  think,  some  respect  for  his  memory ;  he  allows 
phrases  and  ideas  in  others  to  determine  the  course  of  his 
arguments  and  speculations ;  and  he  selects  those  of  Bishop 
Andre wes  and  Archbishop  Usher  for  lengthened  attack.  Of 
the  kind  of  feeling  Milton  entertained  for  Usher  we  have 
already  had  a  sample.  If  not  very  respectful,  it  was  not 
quite  disrespectful ;  and,  in  comparison  with  his  contempt 
and  dislike  for  Hall,  one  might  even  call  it  kindliness.  It 
is  interesting  now  to  note  his  attitude  towards  the  memory 
of  a  thinl  I 'relate, — the  once  famous  Bishop  Andrewes.  He 
certainly  says  nothing  of  Andrewes  approaching  in  disrespect 
to  what  he  says  of  Hall ;  but  the  rather  slighting  terms  in 
which  he  does  now  speak  of  Andrewes  are  in  curious  con- 
trast with  the  terms  of  reverent  eulogy  in  which  he  had  spoken 
of  the  same  Prelate  in  his  juvmile  Latin  Elegy,  In  dbitum 
Prcesulis  Wintoniensis,  written  at  Cambridge  in  1626.2 
Fastening  on  the  phrase  "  out  of  the  rude  draughts  of 
Lancelot  Andrewes,  late  Bishop  of  Winchester"  used  in  the 
subtitle  of  that  tract  in  the  composite  series  for  which  the 

II    .Uodl621:  aeeWood'H  Atl..  l.\  Kli-    11.305-308. 
«  Seo  vol.  I.  p.  l(fe. 

vol..   II  U   it 


370  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

memory  of  Andrewes  was  made  responsible,  Milton,  when 
he  replies  to  that  tract  in  particular,  begins  his  observations 
on  it  by  saying,  "  Surely  they  be  rude  draughts  indeed,  inso- 
"  much  that  it  is  marvel  to  think  what  his  friends  meant, 
"  to  let  come  abroad  such  shallow  reasonings  with  the  name 
"  of  a  man  so  much  bruited  for  learning "  ;  nor  does  the 
tone  anywhere  in  the  sequel  of  the  criticism  rise  higher 
than  these  words  suggest  at  the  outset. 

The  following  is  an  analysis  of  the  entire  pamphlet,  as 
arranged  in  Books  and  Chapters  by  Milton  himself: — 
BOOK  I. : 

"  THE  PREFACE"  :  Explaining  the  intention  of  the  pamphlet. 

"  Chap.  I.  :  That  Church  Government  is  prescribed  in  the  Gospel, 

and  that  to  say  otherwise  is  unsound"  i.e.  arguing  that 

instruction  as  to  the  proper  constitution  of  the  Church 

may  a  priori  be  expected  in  Scripture. 

"  Chap.  II.  :    That  Church  Government  is  set  down  in  Holy 
Scripture,  and  that  to  say  otherwise  is  untrue";  arguing  that, 
in  fact,  there  is  instruction  on  the  subject  in  Scripture. 
"  Chap.  III. :  That  it  is  dangerous  and  unworthy  the  Gospel  to 
hold  that  Church  Government  is  to  be  patterned  by  the  Law, 
as  B.  Andrewes  and  the  Primate  of  Armagh  maintain" 
"  Chap.  IV.  :  That  it  is  impossible  to  make  the  Priesthood  of 

Aaron  a  pattern  whereon  to  ground  Episcopacy" 
"  Chap.  V.  :  To  the  Arguments  of  B.  Andrewes  and  the  Primate  " : 
i.e.  a  more  particular  notice  of  their  statements  on  the 
subject  in  the  Oxford  Tracts. 

"  Chap.  VI.  :  That  Prelaty  ivas  not  set  up  for  prevention  of 
Schism,  as  is  pretended,  or,  if  it  were,  that  it  performs 
not  what  it  ivas  set  up  for,  but  quite  the  contrary." 
"  Chap.  VII.  :  That  those  many  Sects  and  Schisms  by  some  sup- 
posed to  be  among  us,  and  that  Rebellion  in  Ireland,  ought 
not  to  be  a  hindrance,  but  a  hasting  of  Reformation." 

BOOK  II. : 

Preface  :  Autobiographical,  at  some  length. 
"  Chap.  I.  :  That  Prelaty  opposeth  the  reason  and  end  of  the 
Gospel  three  ways, — and,  first,  in  her  outward  form"  : 
i.e.  arguing  that  in  the  external  pomp  of  lordliness 
belonging  to  the  Episcopal  system,  and  really  inseparable 
from  it,  a  mind  of  true  spirituality  will  find  a  contrariety 


1641-2.]  MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMPHLET.  371 

to  the  very  spirit  of  the  Gospel ;  for,  inasmuch  as  Christ 
himself  "  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,"  ought  not 
the  ministerial  character  to  be  perennial  in  his  followers  ? 
Milton  brings  forward  this  argument  hesitatingly,  as  one 
of  deep  force  with  himself,  but  which  he  knows  it  may 
be  bad  policy  to  put  in  the  front ;  so  meaningless  it  will 
be  for  ordinary  minds. 

"  Chap.  II.  :  That  the  ceremonious  doctrine  of  Prelaty  oppotetk 
the  reason  and  end  of  the  Gospel "  ;  i.e.  arguing  that 
the  rites,  symbolisms,  and  vestments  used  in  the  Epi- 
scopal Church  conceal  and  distort  the  simple  truth  of 
Christianity  as  it  is  in  the  Bible. 

"  Chap.  III.  :  That  Prelatical  Jurisdiction  opposeth  the  reason 
and  end  of  the  Gospel  and  the  State."  This  is  a  long 
chapter,  arguing  that  the  Church  is  really  a  spiritual  and 
moral  agency,  and  ought  to  depend  solely  on  spiritual 
and  moral  means  of  discipline,  leaving  temporal  power 
and  civil  punishment  in  the  hands  of  the  Civil  Magistrate. 

"  THE  CONCLUSION  :  The  mischief  that  Prelaty  does  in  the  State." 

While  this  analysis  may  indicate  the  general  course  of 
Milton's  argument  in  the  pamphlet,  and  the  order  of  his 
topics,  it  fails  to  give  any  idea  of  the  power  of  mind  shown 
in  the  pamphlet  and  of  its  casual  passages  of  eloquence  and 
beauty.  A  quotation  or  two  may  repair  this  defect : — 

Discipline. — There  is  not  that  thing  in  the  world  of  more  grave 
and  urgent  importance  throughout  the  whole  life  of  man  than 
Discipline.  What  need  I  instance  ?  He  that  hath  read  with 
judgment  of  nations  and  commonwealths,  of  cities  and  camps, 
of  peace  and  war,  sea  and  land,  will  readily  agree  that  the 
flourishing  and  decaying  of  all  civil  societies,  all  the  moments  and 
turnings  of  human  occasions,  are  moved  to  and  fro  as  upon  the 
axle  of  Discipline.  So  that  whatsoever  power  or  sway  in  mortal 
things  weaker  men  have  attributed  to  Fortune,  I  durst  with  more 
confidence  (the  honour  of  Divine  Providence  ever  saved)  ascribe 
either  to  the  vigour  or  the  slackness  of  Discipline.  Nor  is  there  any 
sociable  perfection  in  this  life,  civil  or  sacred,  that  can  be  above 
Discipline  ;  )>ut  she  is  that  which  with  her  musical  cords  preserves 
and  holds  all  the  parts  thereof  together.  Hence  in  those  perfect 
armies  of  Cy\\-  in  Xenophon,  and  Scipio  in  the  Roman  stories,  the 


372  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

excellency  of  military  skill  was  esteemed,  not  by  the  not  needing, 
but  by  the  readiest  submission  to,  the  edicts  of  their  com- 
mander. And,  certainly,  Discipline  is  not  only  the  removal  of 
disorder,  but,  if  any  visible  shape  can  be  given  to  divine  things, 
the  very  visible  shape  and  image  of  Virtue,  whereby  she  is  not 
only  seen  in  the  regular  gestures  and  motions  of  her  heavenly 
paces  as  she  walks,  but  also  makes  the  harmony  of  her  voice 
audible  to  mortal  ears.  Yea,  the  Angels  themselves,  in  whom  no 
disorder  is  feared,  as  the  Apostle. that  saw  them  in  his  rapture 
describes,  are  distinguished  and  quaternioned  into  their  celestial 
Princedoms  and  Satrapies,  according  as  God  himself  hath  writ  His 
imperial  decrees  through  the  great  provinces  of  Heaven.  The 
state  also  of  the  Blessed  in  Paradise,  though  never  so  perfect,  is 
not  therefore  left  without  Discipline ;  whose  golden  surveying 
reed  marks  out  and  measures  every  quarter  and  circuit  of  New 
Jerusalem.  Yet,  [if]  it  is  not  to  be  conceived  that  these  Eternal 
Effluences  of  sanctity  and  love  in  the  glorified  Saints  should  by 
this  means  be  confined  and  cloyed  with  repetition  of  that  which 
is  prescribed,  but  that  our  happiness  may  orb  itself  into  a 
thousand  vagancies  of  glory  and  delight,  and  with  a  kind  of 
eccentrical  equation  be  as  it  were  an  invariable  planet  of  joy  and 
felicity,  how  much  less  can  we  believe  that  God  would  leave  his 
frail  and  feeble,  though  not  less  beloved,  Church  here  below  to 
the  perpetual  stumble  of  conjecture  and  disturbance  in  this  our 
dark  voyage  without  the  card  and  compass  of  Discipline  !  Which 
is  so  hard  to  be  of  man's  making  that  we  may  see,  even  in  the 
guidance  of  a  civil  state  to  worldly  happiness,  it  is  not  for  every 
learned  or  every  wise  man,  though  many  of  them  consult  in 
common,  to  invent  or  frame  a  Discipline ;  but,  if  it  be  at  all  the 
work  of  man,  it  must  be  of  such  a  one  as  is  a  true  knower  of 
himself,  and  himself  in  whom  contemplation  and  practice,  wit, 
prudence,  fortitude,  and  eloquence  must  be  rarely  met,  both  to 
comprehend  the  hidden  causes  of  things  and  span  in  his  thoughts 
all  the  various  effects  that  passion  or  complexion  can  work  in 
man's  nature ;  and  hereto  must  his  hand  be  at  defiance  with  gain, 
and  his  heart  in  all  virtues  heroic.  So  far  is  it  from  the  ken  of 
these  wretched  projectors  of  ours  that  bescrawl  their  pamphlets 
every  day  with  new  forms  of  government  for  our  Church.1 

Prelacy  and  Schism. — The    Prelates,   as    they    would    have    it 

1  Compare  this  passage  of  Milton's  in  Shakespeare's  Troilus  and  Cressida, 
on  the  all-importance  of  Discipline  or  Act  I.,  Scene  3, where  Ulysses  discourses 
Subordination  with  a  similar  passage  on  the  importance  of  "Degree." 


1641-2.]  MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMPHLET.  373 

thought,  are  the  only  mauls  of  Schism.  Forsooth,  if  they  be  put 
down,  a  deluge  of  innumerable  sects  will  follow, — we  shall  be  all 
Brownists,  Familists,  Anabaptists !  For  the  word  Puritan  seems 
to  be  quashed,  and  all  that  heretofore  were  counted  such  are 
now  Brownists.  And  thus  do  they  raise  an  evil  report  upon  the 
expected  reforming  grace  that  God  hath  bid  us  to  hope  for,  like 
those  faithless  spies  whose  carcases  shall  perish  in  the  wilderness 
of  their  own  confused  ignorance,  and  never  taste  the  good  of 
reformation.  Do  they  keep  away  Schism  ?  If  to  bring  a  numb 
and  chill  stupidity  of  soul,  an  inactive  blindness  of  mind,  upon 
the  people  by  their  leaden  doctrine,  or  no  doctrine  at  all, — if  to 
persecute  all  knowing  and  zealous  Christians  by  the  violence  of 
their  courts, — be  to  keep  away  schism,  they  keep  away  schism 
indeed  :  and  by  this  kind  of  discipline  ail  Italy  and  Spain  is  as 
purely  and  politicly  kept  from  schism  as  England  hath  been  by 
them.  With  as  good  a  plea  might  the  Dead  Palsy  boast  to  a  man, 
"  Tis  /  that  free  you  from  stitches  and  pains,  and  the  troublesome 
feeling  of  cold  and  heat,  of  wounds  and  strokes ;  if  /  were  gone, 
all  these  would  molest  you."  The  Winter  might  as  well  vaunt 
itself  against  the  Spring,  "  I  destroy  all  noisome  and  rank  weeds ; 
I  keep  down  all  pestilent  vapours."  Yes,  and  all  wholesome  herbs, 
and  all  fresh  dews,  by  your  violent  and  hidebound  frost ;  but,  when 
the  gentle  west  winds  shall  open  the  fruitful  bosom  of  the  Earth 
thus  overgirded  by  your  imprisonment,  then  the  flowers  put  forth 
and  spring,  and  then  the  sun  shall  scatter  the  mists,  and  the 
manuring  hand  of  the  tiller  shall  root  up  all  that  burdens  the  soil, 
without  thank  to  your  bondage. 

Natural  Character  of  the  English. — The  Englishman,  of  many 
other  nations,  is  least  atheistical,  and  bears  a  natural  disposition 
of  much  reverence  and  awe  towards  the  Deity ;  but,  in  his  weak- 
ness, and  want  of  instruction  (which  among  us  too  frequently  is 
neglected,  especially  by  the  meaner  sort),  turning  the  bent  of  his 
own  wits,  with  a  scrupulous  and  ceaseless  care  what  he  might  do 
to  inform  himself  aught  of  Qod  and  his  worship,  he  may  fall 
not  unlikely  sometimes,  as  any  other  land-man,  into  an  uncouth 
opinion.  And,  verily,  if  we  look  at  his  native  towardliness  in 
the  rough  cast  without  breeding,  some  nation  or  other  may  haply 
be  better  composed  to  a  natural  civility  than  he.  But,  if  he  get 
the  benefit  once  of  a  wise  and  well-rectified  nurture, — which  must 
come  in  general  from  the  godly  vigilance  of  the  Church,— I  sup- 
pose that,  wherever  mention  is  made  of  countries1  manners  or 
men,  the  English  people,  among  the  first  that  shall  be  praised. 


374  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

may  deserve   to   be  accounted   a  right  pious,   right   honest,   and 
right  hardy  nation. 

The  Prdatists  and  the  Irish  Rebellion. — What  can  the  Irish 
subject  do  less,  in  God's  just  displeasure  against  us,  than  revenge 
upon  English  bodies  the  little  care  that  our  Prelates  have  had  of 
their  souls?  Nor  hath  their  negligence  been  new  in  that  Island, 
but  even  notorious  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  days,  as  Camden,  their 
known  friend,  forbears  not  to  complain.  Yet  so  little  are  they 
touched  with  remorse  of  these  their  cruelties  (for  these  cruelties 
are  theirs,  the  bloody  revenge  of  those  souls  which  they  have 
famished)  that, — whenas  against  our  brethren  the  Scots,  who  by 
their  upright  and  loyal  deeds  have  now  bought  themselves  an 
honourable  name  to  posterity,  whatsoever  malice  by  slander  could 
invent,  rage  in  hostility  attempt,  they  greedily  attempted, — toward 
these  murderous  Irish,  the  enemies  of  God  and  mankind,  a  cursed 
offspring  of  their  own  connivance,  no  man  takes  notice  but  that 
they  seem  to  be  very  calmly  and  indifferently  affected.  Where, 
then,  should  we  begin  to  extinguish  a  rebellion  that  hath  his 
cause  from  the  misgovernment  of  the  Church  ?  Where,  but  at 
the  Church's  reformation  ?  .  .  .  But  it  will  be  here  said  that  the 
reformation  is  a  long  work,  and  the  miseries  of  Ireland  are  urgent 
of  a  speedy  redress.  They  be  indeed ;  and  how  speedy  we  are,— 
the  poor  afflicted  remnant  of  our  martyred  countrymen,  that  sit 
there  on  the  sea-shore  counting  the  hours  of  our  delay  with  their 
sighs,  and  the  minutes  with  their  falling  tears,  perhaps  with  the 
distilling  of  their  bloody  wounds,  if  they  have  not  by  this  cast 
off,  and  almost  cursed,  the  vain  hope  of  our  foundered  ships  and 
aids,  can  best  judge  how  speedy  we  are  to  their  relief.  But  let 
their  succours  be  hasted,  as  all  need  and  reason  is,  and  let  not 
therefore  the  reformation,  which  is  the  chief est  cause  of  success 
and  victory,  be  still  procrastinated. 

Self-respect:  Every  man  potentially  a  Priest. — If  the  love  of 
God,  as  a  fire  sent  from  Heaven  to  be  ever  kept  alive  upon  the 
altar  of  our  hearts,  be  the  first  principle  of  all  godly  and  virtuous 
actions  in  men,  this  pious  and  just  honouring  of  ourselves  is  the 
second,  and  may  be  thought  as  the  radical  moisture  and  fountain- 
head  whence  every  laudable  and  worthy  enterprise  issues  forth. 
And,  although  I  have  given  it  the  name  of  a  liquid  thing,  yet 
it  is  not  incontinent  to  bound  itself,  as  humid  things  are,  but 
hath  in  it  a  most  restraining  and  powerful  abstinence  to  start 
back,  and  globe  itself  upward  from  the  mixture  of  any  ungenerous 
and  unbeseeming  motion,  or  any  soil  wherewith  it  may  peril  to 


1641-2.]  MILTON'S  FOURTH  PAMPHI  375 

stain  itself.     Something  I  confess  it  is  to  be  ashamed  of  evil- 
doing  in  the  presence  of  any;  and  to  reverence  the  opinion  and 
the  countenance  of  a  good  man  rather  than  a  bad,  fearing  most 
in  liis  sight  to  offend,  goes  so  far  as  almost  to  be  virtuous.     Yet 
this  is  but  still  the  fear  of  infamy;  and  many  such,  when  they 
find  themselves  alone,  saving  their  reputation,  will  compound  with 
other  scruples,  and  come  to  a  close  treaty  with  their  dearer  vices 
in  secret.     But  he  that  holds  himself  in  reverence  and  due  esteem, 
both  for  the  dignity  of  God's  image  upon  him  and  for  the  price  of 
his  redemption,  which  he  thinks  is  visibly  marked  upon  his  fore- 
head, accounts  himself  both  a  fit  person  to  do  the  noblest  and 
godliest  deeds,  and  much  better  worth  than  to  deject  and  defile, 
with  such  a  disbasement  and  such  a  pollution  as  sin  is,  himself 
so  highly  ransomed  and  ennobled  to  a  new  friendship  and  filial 
relation  with  God.     Nor  can  he  fear  so  much  the  offence  and 
reproach  of  others  as  he  dreads  and  would  blush  at  the  reflection 
of  his  own  severe  and  modest  eye  upon  himself,  if  it  should  see 
him  doing  or  imagining  that  which  is  sinful,  though  in  the  deepest 
secrecy.     How  shall  a  man  know  to  do  himself  this  right,  how  to 
perform  this  honourable  duty  of  estimation  and  respect  towards 
his  own  soul  and  body  ?     What  way  will  lead  him  best  to  this 
hill-top  of  sanctity  and  goodness,  above  which  there  is  no  higher 
ascent  but  to  the  love  of  God,  which  from  this  self-pious  regard 
cannot  be  asunder?     No  better  way,  doubtless,  than  to  let  him 
duly  understand  that,  as  he  is  called  by  the  high  calling  of  God  to 
be  holy  and  pure,  so  is  he  by  the  same  appointment  ordained,  and 
by  the  Church's  call  admitted,  to  such  offices  of  discipline  in  the 
Church  to  which  his  own  spiritual  gifts,  by  the  example  of  Apo- 
stolic institution,  have  authorized  him.     For  we  have  learnt  that 
the  scornful  term  of  Laic,  the  consecrating  of  temples,  carpets, 
and  table-cloths,  the  railing-in  of  a  repugnant  and  contradictive 
Mount  Sinai  in  the  Gospel  (as  if  the  touch  of  a  lay  Christian, 
who   is    nevertheless   God's    living    temple,    could    profane    dead 
Judaisms),  the  exclusion   of   Christ's   people   from   the   offices   of 
holy  discipline  through  the  pride  of  a  usurping  clergy,  causes  the 
rest  to  have  an  unworthy  and  abject  opinion  of  themselves,  to 
approach  to  holy  duties  with  a  slavish  fear,  and  to  unholy  doings 
with  a  familiar  boldness. 

But  what,  anii<l  all  these  powerful  incidental  passages,  is 
Milton's  own  definite  conclusion  as  to  the  true  form  of 
Church  government,  the  form  j.ivscribed  by  Scripture  and 


376  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

most  accordant  to  reason  ?  That  it  was  not  Episcopacy,  or  any 
possible  modification  of  Episcopacy,  we  have  known  suffi- 
ciently from  the  former  pamphlets.  But  does  the  present 
pamphlet  take  us  so  far  in  advance  of  these  as  to  inform  us, 
roundly  and  distinctly,  what  form  of  Church  government 
Milton  desired  to  see  established  in  England  instead  of  Epi- 
scopacy ?  It  does.  It  informs  us  that  Milton  was  at  this 
time  a  kind  of  Presbyterian.  The  form  of  Church  govern- 
ment which  he  then  desired  to  see  set  up  in  England  was  one 
somewhat  after  the  model  of  the  Presbyterian  Kirk  of  Scot- 
land as  restored  by  Henderson  and  the  Glasgow  Assembly  of 
1638.  As  this  is  a  fact  not  generally  recognised,  and  as 
Milton  afterwards  snapped  his  connexion  with  Presbyterian- 
ism  and  turned  round  upon  it  with  fury  as  no  better  than 
Episcopacy,  it  may  be  well  to  bring  the  matter  out  by  specific 
quotation. 

At  the  very  outset  of  his  pamphlet  Milton  declares  the 
question  respecting  Church  government  to  be  "  whether  it 
ought  to  be  Presbyterial  or  Prelatical  "  ;  nay,  shortly  after- 
wards (chap,  iii.),  he  has  a  sentence  which  shows  that  at  this 
time  there  was  little  dream  either  in  his  mind  or  in  that  of 
people  round  him  of  the  possibility  of  any  form  of  Church 
government  that  should  not  be  definable  as  the  one  or  the 
other  of  these  two.  "  This  position,"  he  says,  "  is  to  be  first 
"  laid  down  as  granted,  that  one  of  these  two,  and  none  other, 
"  is  of  God's  ordaining."  Nor  is  he  long  in  announcing  his 
own  conclusion.  After  having  spoken  of  those  recent  re- 
searches of  Usher  which  brought  in  view  not  merely  ordinary 
Bishoprics,  but  the  larger  ecclesiastical  jurisdictions  of  Metro- 
politan Bishops  and  Patriarchs,  and  having  referred  to  Brere- 
wood's  attempt  to  settle  the  exact  boundaries  of  the  three 
great  Patriarchates  of  Home,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch,  and  to 
determine  in  what  relation  to  these  Britain  stood,  he  adds  :  "  I 
"  shall  in  the  meanwhile  not  cease  to  hope,  through  the  mercy 
"  and  grace  of  Christ,  the  head  and  husband  of  his  Church, 
"  that  England  shortly  is  to  belong  neither  to  see  Patriarchal 
"  nor  see  Prelatical,  but  to  the  faithful  feeding  and  disciplin- 
"  ing  of  that  ministerial  order  which  the  blessed  Apostles 


1641-2.J        FOURTH  PAMPHLET  :    ITS  PRESBYTERIANISM.  377 

"  constituted  throughout  the  Churches ;  and  this  I  shall  assay 
"  to  prove  can  be  no  other  than  that  of  Presbyters  and 
"  Deacons."  He  contends,  accordingly,  that  in  the  Apostolic 
or  primitive  days  of  the  Church  disputes  were  settled  not  by 
the  authority  of  individuals,  but  by  Councils  ;  "  from  which, 
"  by  anything  that  can  be  learnt  from  the  15th  of  the  Ads, 
"  no  faithful  Christian  was  debarred  to  whom  knowledge 
"  and  piety  might  give  entrance." 

So  far,  in  avowing  his  preference  for  the  democratic  over 
the  hierarchical  constitution  of  a  church,  Milton  regards 
himself  as  declaring  for  Presbyterianism.  But  he  is  more 
specific.  Not  only  does  he  think  of  Councils  or  General 
Assemblies  over  a  whole  country  as  the  courts  of  last  resort 
in  cases  of  Church  dispute,  but  he  thinks  of  such  Assemblies 
as  constituted  or  led  up  to  by  smaller  and  more  local  bodies, 
each  acting  on  the  same  principle  of  free  debate  and  vote. 
"  Of  such  a  Council  as  this,"  he  says,  speaking  of  a  Council 
of  the  Church  over  a  large  tract  of  territory, "  every  Parochial 
"  Consistory  is  a  right  homogeneous  and  constituting  part ; 
"  being  in  itself  as  it  were  a  little  Synod,  and  towards  a 
"  General  Assembly  moving  upon  her  own  basis  in  an  even 
"  and  firm  progression,  as  those  smaller  squares  in  battle 
"  unite  in  one  great  cube,  the  phalanx,  an  emblem  of  truth 
"  and  stedfastness."  In  contrast  to  this  image  of  Presbyterial 
organization  as  a  perfect  cube,  he  then  presents  the  image  of 
the  Prelatic  or  hierarchical  organization  as  a  pyramid,  taper- 
ing from  base  to  apex  ;  and,  with  a  curious  ingenuity  in  the 
language  of  solid  geometry,  he  compares  the  occasional 
attempts  of  such  an  organization  to  remedy  its  own  defects 
by  Convocations  and  Councils  in  extreme  cases  to  abortive 
efforts  of  a  pyramid  to  become  fluid  so  as  to  be  able  for 
the  nonce  to  "  inglobe  "  or  "  incube  "  itself.  In  his  image  of 
tin  Presbyterial  government,  it  will  be  observed,  he  confines 
himself  to  mentioning  the  smallest  unit  and  the  largest  of 
the  cubical  system  :  the  Parochial  Consistory,  or  court  of  the 
individual  parish  or  congregation,  answering  to  what  the  Scots 
call  the  Kirk-session  ;  and  the  complete  territorial  or  national 
Council,  which  he  expressly  calls  by  its  Scottish  naim  ..t 


378  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

General  Assembly,  but  which  he  calls  afterwards,  in  another 
place,  a  General  Presbytery.  There  is  no  distinct  mention  of 
the  two  bodies  intermediate,  in  the  Scottish  Presbyterian 
system,  between  the  Kirk-session  and  the  General  or  National 
Assembly :  to  wit,  the  Presbytery,  specially  so  called,  or 
periodical  meeting  of  office-bearers  of  a  cluster  of  contiguous 
parishes,  and  the  Provincial  Synod,  or  periodical  meeting  of 
all  the  Presbyters  of  a  shire  or  other  large  district.  His 
language  does  not  imply  that  he  did  not  contemplate  these 
gradual  or  intermediate  "  cubings,"  and  indeed  may  be  con- 
strued to  imply  that  he  had  such  in  his  mind ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  that  Milton  did  not  favour  the 
stringency  of  the  Scottish  gradation  up  from  the  constant 
Kirk-session  through  monthly  or  quarterly  Presbyteries  and 
twice-a-year  Synods  to  the  annual  General  Assembly,  but 
rather  preferred  the  notion  of  a  multitude  of  coequal  Kirk- 
sessions  representing  and  managing  individual  parishes  or 
congregations,  but  merging  into  Assemblies  larger  or  smaller 
as  there  might  be  occasion. 

In  his  farther  description,  however,  of  the  smallest  ecclesi- 
astical unit,  the  Parochial  Consistory  or  Kirk-session,  and  its 
relations  to  the  people,  Milton  does  seem  to  agree  pretty 
closely  with  the  Scottish  system.  Distinct  from  the  power 
or  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate,  whose  punishments  may 
extend  to  person  and  goods,  he  recognises  as  still  necessary  to 
the  well-being  of  society  a  certain  organized  power  of  spiritual 
or  ecclesiastical  censure,  acting  solely  on  the  conscience.  In 
the  early  ages  of  the  world  this  authority  of  spiritual  censure 
had  been  vested,  as  was  also  civil  authority,  in  each  father  of 
a  family ;  in  later  ages  it  had  been  exercised,  more  or  less 
laxly,  and  in  conjunction  with  more  or  less  of  civil  power,  by 
Sages  and  Philosophers  among  the  heathen,  and  by  Prophets 
and  Scribes  and  Pharisees  among  the  Jews.  Under  the 
Gospel,  however,  God  had  granted  more  freedom,  and  was  less 
the  schoolmaster  than  the  indulgent  father  of  sons  arrived  at 
discreet  age.  "  Therefore,  in  the  sweetest  and  mildest  manner 
"  of  paternal  discipline,  he  hath  committed  this  other  office 
"  of  preserving  in  healthful  constitution  the  inner  man, 


1641-2.]        FOURTH  PAMPHLET  :    ITS  PKESBYTERIANISM.  379 

"  which  may  be  termed  the  spirit  of  the  soul,  to  his  spiritual 
"  deputy,  the  Minister  of  each  congregation  ;  who,  being  best 
"  acquainted  with  his  own  flock,  hath  best  reason  to  know  all 
"  the  secretest  diseases  likely  to  be  there."  The  pastor  of 
every  particular  parish  or  congregation,  therefore,  is,  according 
to  Milton,  to  be  regarded  as  the  person  specially  invested  with 
the  power  of  spiritual  censure  within  that  parish  or  congre- 
gation. But  he  is  not  to  be  alone  in  the  office  even  there. 
"  The  Holy  Ghost,  by  the  Apostles,  joined  to  the  minister,  as 
"  assistant  in  this  great  office  sometimes,  a  certain  number  of 
"  grave  and  faithful  brethren.  For  neither  doth  the  physician 
"  do  all  in  restoring  his  patient :  he  prescribes,  another  pre- 
"  pares  the  medicine ;  some  tend,  some  watch,  some  visit." 
On  this  ground,  and  because  the  pastor  may  err,  and  also 
because  "  nothing  can  be  more  for  the  mutual  honour  and  love 
"  of  the  people  to  their  pastor,  and  his  to  them,  than  when  in 
"  select  numbers  and  courses  they  are  seen  partaking  and 
"  doing  reverence  to  the  holy  duties  of  discipline  by  their 
"  serviceable  and  solemn  presence,"  there  ought  to  be,  round 
the  pastor  in  every  parish  or  congregation,  a  certain  number 
of  lay-elders  as  his  assessors.  Milton  expressly  calls  them 
"  lay-elders,"  as  in  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  system,  and 
defines  their  duties  very  much  as  they  are  recognised  in  that 
system.  They  are  to  assist  the  pastor  in  his  ministrations, 
and,  together  with  him,  are  to  form  the  parochial  consistory, 
or  congregational  court. 

It  is  in  describing  the  duties  of  this  little  consistory,  or 
court  of  the  Pastor  and  Lay-elders,  in  every  particular  parish 
or  congregation,  that  Milton  brings  out  most  fully  his  idea  of 
the  true  functions  of  the  Church  in  modern  society.  Teach- 
ing or  Doctrine  is  one  of  the  functions,  but  by  no  means  the 
only  one,  nor  perhaps  the  most  important  Besides  Teaching 
there  is  the  great  function  of  "  censure "  or  "  discipline." 
The  •  distinction  is  explained  by  a  comparison.  "  Public 
"  Preaching,"  says  Milton, "  is  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  working 
"  as  best  seems  to  his  secret  will ;  but  Discipline  is  the  practic 
"  work  of  preaching  directed  and  applied  as  is  most  requisite 
"  to  particular  duty;  without  which  it  were  all  one  to  the 


380  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  benefit  of  souls  as  it  would  be  to  the  cure  of  bodies  if 
"  all  the  physicians  in  London  should  get  into  the  several 
"  pulpits  of  the  city,  and,  assembling  all  the  diseased  in 
"  every  parish,  should  begin  a  learned  lecture  of  pleurisies, 
"  palsies,  lethargies,  to  which  perhaps  none  present  were 
"  inclined,  and  so,  without  so  much  as  feeling  one  pulse,  or 
"  giving  the  least  order  to  any  skilful  apothecary,  should  dis- 
"  miss  'em  from  time  to  time,  some  groaning,  some  languishing, 
"  some  expiring,  with  this  only  charge,  to  look  well  to  them- 
"  selves  and  do  as  they  hear."  In  short,  Discipline  or  Censure 
is  practical  spiritual  Therapeutics, — dealing  with  the  special 
diseases,  in  the  shape  of  error  or  evil  conduct,  that  may 
present  themselves  in  individuals  or  in  localities.  Now, 
this  function,  within  each  parish  or  congregation,  is  vested, 
according  to  Milton,  in  the  above-described  consistory  or 
kirk-session.  He  dilates  at  some  length  on  the  great  effects 
that  might  be  produced  by  a  pastor  and  lay-elders  earnestly 
and  skilfully  exercising  within  their  bounds  this  function  of 
ecclesiastical  censure,  confined  as  they  should  be  to  merely 
spiritual  and  moral  means  of  enforcing  their  authority,  and 
debarred,  as  they  should  be,  in  a  true  theory  of  the  Church, 
from  every  pretence  of  jurisdiction.  Armed  with  the  power- 
ful weapons  of  Admonition  and  Eeproof,  the  minister,  where 
there  was  an  errant  member  of  his  flock,  might  first  privately 
deal  with  him  to  recover  him.  This  failing,  the  counsel  of 
the  lay-assistants  might  be  called  in,  and  stronger  measures 
of  rebuke  and  remonstrance  employed.  Shame  and  the  fear 
of  exposure  are,  next  to  innate  purity  and  magnanimity,  the 
most  effective  motives  to  virtuous  conduct.  But,  if  a  case 
proved  desperate,  if  some  evil-doer  were  obdurate  in  his  ini- 
quity, then  the  whole  church  or  congregation  might  be  called 
in  ;  for,  though  censure  is  ordinarily  vested  in  the  minister 
and  elders,  it  is  not  so  vested  but  that,  in  extreme  cases,  all 
the  brethren  must  participate.  For  a  time,  therefore,  the 
whole  Church  beseech  the  obstinate  sinner,  deplore  him,  pray 
for  him.  "  After  all  this  performed  with  what  patience  and 
"  attendance  is  possible,  and  no  relenting  on  his  part,  having 
"  done  the  utmost  of  their  cure,  in  the  name  of  God  and  of 


1641-2.]        FOURTH  PAMPHLET:    ITS  PRESBYTERIANISM.  381 

"  the  Church  they  dissolve  their  fellowship  with  him,  and, 
"  holding  forth  the  dreadful  sponge  of  excommunion,  pro- 
"  nounce  him  wiped  out  of  the  list  of  God's  inheritance  and 
"  in  the  custody  of  Satan  till  he  repent."  Even  this  horrid 
sentence  of  excommunication,  however,  must  be  purely 
spiritual,  a  mere  dissolution  of  fellowship  with  the  person 
so  punished,  and  without  the  least  consequence,  except  what 
may  be  produced  through  opinion,  to  life,  or  limb,  or  any 
worldly  possession.  Nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  deep 
ideal  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  the  great  dynamic  forces  of  Love, 
Fear,  Shame,  and  the  like,  unaided  by  any  civil  rewards  or 
penalties,  which  pervades  all  this  portion  of  Milton's  pam- 
phlet. It  is  the  superiority  of  the  Presbyterian  system  of 
Church  government,  as  he  conceives  it,  in  this  respect  of  its 
more  complete  trust  in  these  dynamic  forces,  and  its  greater 
capacity  in  using  them,  that  chiefly  recommends  it  to  him. 
"  So  little  is  it,"  he  says,  "  that  I  fear  lest  any  crooked- 
"  ness,  any  wrinkle  or  spot,  should  be  found  in  Presbyterial 
"  government,  that,  if  Bodin,  the  famous  French  writer, 
"  though  a  Papist,  yet  affirms  that  the  commonwealth  which 
"  maintains  this  discipline  will  certainly  flourish  in  virtue 
"  and  piety,  I  dare  assure  myself  that  every  true  Protestant 
"  will  admire  the  integrity,  the  uprightness,  the  divine  and 
"  gracious  purposes  thereof,  and,  even  for  the  reason  of  it, 
"  so  coherent  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  besides  the 
"  evident  command  of  Scripture,  will  confess  it  to  be  the  only 
"  true  Church  government." One  item  in  Milton's  con- 
ception of  such  Church  government  remains  to  be  noted.  As 
the  pastor  and  lay-elders  of  any  parish  were  sometimes  to 
merge  themselves  in  the  whole  congregation  for  the  exercise 
of  Church  discipline,  so,  Milton  clearly  hints,  they  ought 
originally  to  be  elected  by  the  congregation. 

That  Milton's  theory  of  Church  government,  so  expounded, 
accorded  in  all  points  with  the  system  of  the  contemporary 
Scottish  Kirk, or  that  the  straiter  Presbyterian  Scottish  critics, 
like  Buillir  <»r  Gillespie,  would  not  have  found  flaws  and  de- 
ficiencies on  it,  some  taint  of  Brownism  or  Independency, 
or  at  least  a  gnu -r.il  \  will  hardly  be  asserted.  After 


382  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

all,  however,  the  difference  was  to  be  attributed  mainly  to  the 
fact  that  here  was  a  free  English  mind  thinking  for  itself, 
coming  to  the  essential  Presbyterian  conclusions  in  its  own 
way,  and  expressing  them  in  their  dynamical  aspects  rather 
than  with  attention  to  all  points  of  the  rigid  mechanism.  All 
the  more  on  this  account  was  this  a  writer  at  whom  the  Scot- 
tish Presbyterian  leaders,  Henderson,  Baillie,  Eutherford,  and 
Gillespie,  might  look  with  interest.  Might  they  not  think  of 
him  as  likely  to  aid  them  in  the  task  which  they  had  so  much 
at  heart,  and  on  behalf  of  which  they  too  were  printing  pam- 
phlets in  London  ? l  Was  he  not  contributing  also  to  the  for- 
mation of  a  sufficient  Presbyterian  opinion  in  England,  and 
so  to  an  ecclesiastical  uniformity  between  the  two  kingdoms  ? 
That  some  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians  saw  and  read  this 
pamphlet  of  Milton's  may  be  assumed  as  certain.  If  they 
wondered  at  first  how  there  should  be  so  much  of  the  root 
of  the  matter  in  an  Englishman  of  Cambridge  training,  the 
mystery  might  have  been  solved  for  some  of  them  by  the 
information  that  he  was  an  associate  of  the  Smectymnuans, 
and  had  been  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Young  of  Stowmarket. 

Milton  took  express  pains  that  the  world  should  know 
something  about  himself  in  connexion  with  this  pamphlet. 
It  can  hardly  have  been  merely  because  people  had  already 
been  talking  of  him  in  connexion  with  his  former  pamphlets 
that,  not  content  with  simply  putting  his  name  to  this  one, 
he  inserted  the  extraordinary  chapter  of  autobiography  which 
opens  the  Second  Book.  For  any  ordinary  purpose,  in  any 
ordinary  pamphlet,  such  a  chapter  would  be  a  mere  excess  of 
egotism.  But  this  was  no  ordinary  pamphlet,  nor  was  Mil- 
ton's purpose  ordinary.  He  had  thrown  himself  into  a  great 
work.  He  had  done  so  reluctantly  but  deliberately,  not  con- 
cealing from  himself,  on  the  one  hand,  what  sacrifices  it  might 
require  of  him,  nor,  on  the  other,  how  important  it  might  be 

1  I  may  note  here,  by  way  of  co-  [sic]  in  Scotland :  London :  Printed  for 

incidence,     a     pamphlet     of    Baillie's  Thos.   Underhill,  at  the  Bible  in   Wood 

published  in  London  about  the  time  Street :   1641.     The  coincidence  is  the 

of  the  publication  of  Milton's  Reason  more  worth  noting  because  the  pub- 

of  Church  Government,  and  to  the  same  lisher  of  this  pamphlet,  Underhill,  was 

effect.    It  is  entitled  The  Unlawfulnesse  the  publisher  of  Milton's  first   three 

and  Danger  of  Limited  Episcopacie,  &c. ,  pamphlets. 
by  Robert  Baillie,  Pastor  of  Kilwunning 


1641-2.]  FOURTH  PAMPHLET:    AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.  383 

for  his  countrymen  that  he  had  assumed  this  hard  office.  1 1 » • 
had  been  talked  of  for  his  former  pamphlets,  and  he  knew  he 
would  be  much  more  talked  of  by  the  world  ere  he  left  it. 
Let  him  therefore  burst  all  bounds  of  common  literary  re- 
straint, and,  while  delivering  a  message  to  his  countrymen, 
tell  them  frankly  what  sort  of  man  the  messenger  was.  This 
might  really  import  much  to  the  message  itself.  It  was  no 
mere  book  he  was  publishing,  no  mere  literary  performance 
to  be  enjoyed  or  admired,  irrespectively  of  knowledge  of  its 
author.  It  was  a  prophecy  like  those  of  old,  and  as  full  of 
thundering.  People  were  entitled  therefore  to  see  his  per- 
sonal warrant.  "  Who  are  you"  they  might  justly  say,  "  that 
talk  in  this  high  strain  ?  Is  it  all  mere  mouth  ?  If  we 
saw  the  man  to  whom  the  mouth  belongs,  and  knew  him 
thoroughly,  heart,  look,  and  life,  should  we  listen  or  should 
we  laugh  ?  Come  forth  and  show  yourself !  "  Exactly  on  this 
principle,  Milton  did  come  forth.  In  one  entire  chapter  he 
gives  a  summary,  but  exact,  account  of  himself,  his  previous 
history,  and  his  recent  occupations.  "  This  is  the  kind  of  man 
I  am,"  he  virtually  says ;  "  such  has  been  my  life  from  my 
childhood  hitherto ;  these  are  my  credentials.  Even  on 
such  a  ground  as  this,  I  do,  before  God,  believe  that  you  are 
bound  to  listen  to  me ;  but  judge  for  yourselves."  And, 
whatever  may  have  been  thought  at  the  time  by  English 
readers  of  the  pamphlet,  we  •  now  are  thankful  for  that 
chapter,  and  read  it  with  reverence. 

Nothing  can  be  more  dreadful,  Milton  begins,  than  for  a 
conscientious  man,  possessed  by  some  truth  which  he  feels 
himself  commissioned  to  express,  but  who  is  at  the  same  time 
a  lover  of  peace,  to  find  himself  a  cause  of  variance  and  dis- 
cord. "  This  is  that  which  the  sad  prophet,  Jeremiah,  laments, 
"  Woe  is  me,  my  mother,  tli«t  thou  Jiast  borne  me  a  man  of 
"  strife  and  contention  !  "  All  prophets,  Heathen  as  well  as 
Hebrew,  had  felt  this  sorrow.  In  his  own  case  there  was  an 
additional  trouble.  That  he,  an  uutitled  Englishman,  still  in 
his  "green  years,"  had  come  forward  to  denounce  Prelacy, 
and.  in  doing  so, to  oppose  the  traditions  of  his  country,  and 
"  contest  with  men  of  high  estimation,"  might  IK-  imputed, — 


384  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

nay,  he  had  found,  had  been  imputed, — to  "  some  self-pleasing 
humour  of  vain-glory."  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the 
fact.  Had  he  consulted  mere  natural  inclination,  had  he 
followed  out  the  plans  he  had  laid  for  his  own  life,  had  he 
persisted  in  doing  what  he  could  do  best  and  should  have 
had  most  of  personal  enjoyment  in  doing,  he  would  not  now 
have  been  attacking  Episcopacy,  or  writing  pamphlets  at  all. 
Very  different  was  the  work  to  which  he  had  been  looking 
forward.  Until  this  turmoil  in  England,  all  his  hopes,  all  his 
projects,  had  pointed  to  a  purely  intellectual  or  speculative 
life,  a  life  dedicated  to  the  very  noblest  and  calmest  of  all  the 
Muses.  It  had  been  his  happy  lot,  through  the  ceaseless  care 
and  diligence  of  one  of  the  best  of  fathers, — "  whom  God 
recompense,"  he  adds,  signifying  that  his  good  father  was  yet 
alive, — to  receive  the  best  education,  "  by  sundry  masters  and 
teachers  both  at  home  and  at  the  schools,"  that  England 
could  afford.  Even  in  those  his  youthful  days,  his  calling  to 
literature  had  been  apparent.  "  It  was  found  that,  whether 
"  aught  was  imposed  upon  me  by  them  that  had  the  overlook  - 
"  ing,  or  betaken  to  of  mine  own  choice,  in  English  or  other 
"  tongue,  prosing  or  versing,  but  chiefly  the  latter,  the  style, 
"  by  certain  vital  signs  it  had,  was  likely  to  live."  Of  his 
English  poems  already  published  Milton  makes  no  mention. 
He  passes  at  once  to  his  journey  to  Italy,  and  the  cordial 
nature  of  his  reception  among  the  scholars  there,  especially 
in  their  meetings  in  the  literary  Academies.  "  I  began,"  he 
says,  "  thus  far  to  assent  both  to  them  and  divers  friends  here 
"  at  home,  and  not  the  less  to  an  inward  prompting  which 
"  now  daily  grew  upon  me,  that,  by  labour  and  intent  study 
"  (which  I  take  to  be  my  portion  in  this  life)  joined  with 
"  the  strong  propensity  of  nature,  I  might  perhaps  leave  some- 
"  thing  so  written  to  after  times  as  they  should  not  willingly 
"  let  it  die."  Connected  with  this  thought  of  a  life  of  in- 
tense devotion  to  literature,  and  of  some  great  master-work 
in  particular  that  might  grow  out  of  such  a  life,  there  was, 
he  says,  another  thought.  Latin  was  the  language  in  which 
most  Englishmen,  or  at  least  most  Englishmen  of  the 
learned  as  distinct  from  the  popular  class,  had  chosen 


1641-2.]          FOURTH  PAMPHLET  :    AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.  385 

to  write  their  greatest  works.  They  had  sought,  like  the 
learned  writers  of  France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  to  address  the 
entire  world  of  Europe.  He  himself  (this  he  does  not  say, 
but  it  is  well  to  note  it)  had  used  the  Latin  tongue  in  his 
writings  nearly  as  much  as  the  English.  But,  while  making 
up  his  mind  to  a  career  wholly  devoted  to  literature,  he  had 
come  to  a  new  resolution.  In  such  a  career,  if  his  works 
should  have  any  chance  of  endurance,  his  immediate  care,  he 
had  come  to  see,  ought  to  be  the  "  honour  and  instruction  "  of 
his  own  country.  "  For  which  cause,"  he  continues,  "  and 
"  not  only  for  that  I  knew  it  would  be  hard  to  arrive  at  the 
"  second  rank  among  the  Latins,  I  applied  myself  to  that 
"  resolution  which  Ariosto  followed  against  the  persuasions  of 
"  Bembo,  to  fix  all  the  industry  and  art  I  could  unite  to  the 
"  adorning  of  my  native  tongue, — not  to  make  verbal  curi- 
"  osities  the  end  (that  were  a  toilsome  vanity),  but  to  be  an 
"  interpreter  and  relater  of  the  best  and  sagest  things  among 
"  mine  own  citizens  throughout  this  Island  in  the  mother 
"dialect, —  that  what  the  greatest  and  choicest  wits  of 
"  Athens,  Rome,  or  modern  Italy,  and  those  Hebrews  of 
"  old,  did  for  their  country,  I,  in  my  proportion,  with  this 
"  over  and  above  of  being  a  Christian,  might  do  for  mine ; 
"  not  caring  to  be  once  named  abroad,  though  perhaps  I 
"  could  attain  to  that,  but  content  with  these  British  Islands 
"as  my  world,  whose  fortune  hath  hitherto  been  that,  if 
"  the  Athenians,  as  some  say,  made  their  small  deeds  great 
"  and  renowned  by  their  eloquent  writers,  England  hath 
"  had  her  noble  achievements  made  small  by  the  unskilful 
"  handling  of  monks  and  mechanics."  What  have  we  here 
but  a  repetition  publicly  of  what  we  heard  Milton  saying 
to  himself  privately,  two  years  before,  in  his  Epitaphium 
Damonis  ?  l — 

"  What  then  1     For  one  to  do  all  things, 
One  to  hope  all  things,  fits  not !     Prize  sufficiently  ample 
Mine,  and  distinction  great  (unheard-of  ever  thereafter 
Though  I  should  be,  and  inglorious,  all  through  the  world  of  the 

stranger), 

»  Anti,  pp.  91,  92. 

VOL.  n  2  c 


386  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

If  but  yellow-haired  Ouse  shall  read  me,  the  drinker  of  Alan, 
Humber,  which  whirls  as  it  flows,  and  Trent's  whole  valley  of 

orchards, 

Thames,  my  own  Thames,  above  all,  and  Tamar's  western  waters 
Tawny  with  ores,  and  where  the  white  waves  swinge  the  far 

Orkneys." 

Eeturning  to  England,  he  says,  with  these  plans  and  resolu- 
tions, he  had  employed  himself  in  meditations  as  to  the  proper 
subject  and  form  for  his  intended  English  poem.  Here, 
though  Milton  says  nothing  of  the  long  list  of  subjects  for 
tragedies,  from  Scripture  and  from  British  History,  which  we 
know  he  had  written  out,  and  which  may  have  been  on  his 
desk  in  Aldersgate  Street  while  he  was  penning  this  very 
pamphlet,  he  describes  in  the  most  exact  manner  those  hesi- 
tations of  his  as  to  form  and  subject,  those  changing  schemes 
of  his  mind  "  at  home  in  the  spacious  circuits  of  her  musing," 
of  which  we  have  cited  that  list  as  documentary  proof  I1  But, 
whatever  subject  and  form  he  might  finally  choose,  the  poem 
should  at  least  be  an  example  of  new  nobleness  in  English 
Literature  !  The  corrupt  state  into  which  that  Literature  had 
fallen  of  late,  and  especially  the  depravation  of  the  youth 
and  gentry  of  England  by  "  the  writings  and  interludes  of 
libidinous  and  ignorant  poetasters,"  were  matters  of  serious 
national  concern.  It  might  even  be  well  if  the  Magistracy  and 
Government  were  to  take  these  matters  to  some  extent  within 
their  charge,  managing  the  public  sports  and  pastimes,  like 
the  famous  Governments  of  old,  and  arranging  that  not  only 
in  the  pulpit,  but  in  academies,  and  by  wise  and  artful  public 
recitations,  and  at  "  set  and  solemn  panagories  in  theatres, 
porches,  or  what  other  place  and  way  may  win  most 
upon  the  people  to  receive  at  once  both  recreation  and 
instruction,"  there  should  be  the  means  of  the  highest, 
richest,  and  most  exquisite  popular  culture.  His  own 
contribution  to  the  Literature  of  England,  at  all  events, 
should  be  one  conceived  according  to  this  standard ! 

1  Ante,  pp.  103—119. 


1641-2.]          FOURTH  PAMPHLET :    AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.  387 

Could  it  have  been  vain-glory,  he  proceeds,  that  had  torn 
him  from  such  dreams  as  these  ?  Was  there  any  tiling  so 
charming  in  controversy  for  its  own  sake,  anything  so  glorious 
in  fighting  with  blockheads  and  bishops,  that  a  man  who  had 
such  a  private  Elysium  of  poetic  schemings  and  studies  to 
rejoice  in,  and  whose  means  permitted  him  to  remain  there 
without  anxiety  or  perturbation,  should  voluntarily  leave 
that  Elysium  to  become  an  an ti- Episcopal  pamphleteer  ? 
And  why,  then,  had  he  taken  this  step  ?  Solely,  he  declares, 
from  a  sense  of  duty  : — 

"  For  me,  I  have  determined  to  lay  up  as  the  best  treasure  and 
solace  of  a  good  old  age,  if  God  vouchsafe  it  me,  the  honest  liberty 
of  free  speech  from  my  youth,  where  I  shall  think  it  available  in 
so  dear  a  concernment  as  the  Church's  good.  For,  if  I  be,  either 
by  disposition  or  what  other  cause,  too  inquisitive  or  suspicious 
of  myself  and  mine  own  doings,  who  can  help  it?  But  this  I 
foresee, — that,  should  the  Church  be  brought  under  heavy  oppres- 
sion, and  God  have  given  me  ability  the  while  to  reason  against 
that  man  that  should  be  the  author  of  so  foul  a  deed,  or  should 
she,  by  blessing  from  above  on  the  industry  and  courage  of  faith- 
ful men,  change  this  her  distracted  estate  into  better  days  without 
the  least  furtherance  or  contribution  of  those  few  talents  which 
God  at  that  present  had  lent  me, — I  foresee  what  stories  I  should 
hear  within  myself,  all  my  life  after,  of  discourage  and  reproach  : — 
'  Timorous  and  ungrateful,  the  Church  of  God  is  now  again  at  the 
foot  of  her  insulting  enemies,  and  thou  bewailest !  What  matters 
it  for  thee  or  thy  bewailing  ?  When  time  was,  thou  couldst  not 
find  a  syllable  of  all  that  thou  hadst  read  or  studied  to  utter  in 
her  behalf.  Yet  ease  and  leisure  was  given  thee  for  thy  retired 
thoughts  out  of  the  sweat  of  other  men.  Thou  hadst  the  diligence, 
the  parts,  the  language  of  a  man,  if  a  vain  subject  were  to  be 
adorned  or  beautified ;  but,  when  the  cause  of  God  and  his 
Church  was  to  be  pleaded,  for  which  purpose  that  tongue  was 
given  thee  which  thou  hast,  God  listened  if  he  could  hear  thy 
voice  among  his  zealous  servants,  but  thou  wort  dumb  as  a  beast 
From  henceforward  be  that  which  thim  own  brutish  silence  hath 
made  thee  ! '  Or  else  I  should  have  heard  on  the  other  ear : — 
*  Slothful  and  ever  to  be  set  light  by,  the  Church  hath  now  over- 
come her  late  distresses  after  the  unwearied  labours  of  many,  her 
true  servants,  that  stood  up  in  her  defence.  Thou  also  wouldst  take 


388  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

upon  thee  to  share  amongst  them  of  their  joy ;  but  wherefore  thou  1 
Where  canst  thou  show  any  word  or  deed  of  thine  which  might 
have  hastened  her  peace  1  Whatever  thou  dost  now  talk,  or  write, 
or  look,  is  the  alms  of  other  men's  active  prudence  and  zeal.  Dare 
not  now  to  say  or  do  anything  better  than  thy  former  sloth  and 
infancy  ;  or,  if  thou  darest,  thou  dost  imprudently,  to  make  a  thrifty 
purchase  of  boldness  to  thyself  out  of  the  painful  merits  of  other 
men.  What  before  was  thy  sin  is  now  thy  duty  to  be, — abject  and 
worthless  ! '  These,  and  such-like  lessons  as  these,  I  know,  would 
have  been  my  matins  duly  and  my  even-song.  But  now  by  this 
little  diligence  mark  what  a  privilege  I  have  gained  !  with  good  men 
and  saints,  to  claim  my  right  of  lamenting  the  tribulations  of  the 
Church,  if  she  should  suffer,  when  others  that  have  ventured 
nothing  for  her  sake  have  not  the  honour  to  be  admitted  mourners ; 
but,  if  she  lift  up  her  drooping  head  and  prosper,  among  those  that 
have  something  more  than  wished  her  welfare  /  have  my  charter 
and  freehold  of  rejoicing  to  me  and  my  heirs." 

In  addition  to  these  general  reasons,  affecting  all  English- 
men, there  was  a  particular  reason  in  his  case  for  taking  part 
in  this  battle.  He  had  himself  been  intended  for  the  Church 
by  his  parents  and  friends,  and  in  his  own  resolutions,  until, 
arriving  at  an  age  when  he  could  judge  what  the  Church  was, 
he  had  recoiled  from  it  in  disgust,  and  preferred  being  a  lay- 
man all  his  life  to  being  a  perjured  or  servile  priest.  All  the 
more  was  he  bound,  now  that  there  was  a  chance,  to  assist  in 
restoring  the  Church  to  such  a  condition  that  future  free  and 
young  spirits,  the  flower  of  English  manhood,  might  enter  her 
service  without  degradation.  It  was  a  great  work ;  but  was  it 
one  which  lie  was  likely  to  have  chosen  for  mere  personal  satis- 
faction ?  Who  that  knew  him  could  think  so  ?  Surely,  if  he 
"  hunted  after  praise  by  the  ostentation  of  art  and  learning,"  he 
would  not  thus  be  writing  "  out  of  his  own  season."  He  would 
not  be  writing  rough  pamphlets  for  the  mere  hasty  perusal 
of  a  passing  hour.  If  left  to  himself,  would  he  have  chosen 
prose  at  all  for  his  element  ?  That  was  a  manner  of  writing 
in  which  he  knew  himself  to  be  inferior  to  himself,  and  in 
which  he  had  the  use  but  of  his  "  left  hand."  If,  therefore, 
he  had  interrupted  his  own  natural  pursuits,  and  forsaken  a 


1641-2.]  FOURTH  PAMPHI.KT:    AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.  389 

calm  and  pleasing  solitariness,  "  to  embark  in  a  troubled  sea 
of  noises  and  hoarse  disputes,"  let  his  reasons  for  doing  so  be 
understood  by  his  countrymen.  Nay,  he  would  make  them 
a  promise.  He  had  taken  his  countrymen  so  far  into  his 
confidence  as  to  tell  them  of  his  literary  projects,  and 
especially  of  the  great  English  Poem  that  had  been  shaping 
itself  in  his  dreams.  Well,  as  to  those  projects,  and  as  to 
that  intended  English  poem,  let  this  pledge  (Feb.  or  March 
1641-2)  be  registered: — 

"The  accomplishment  of  them  lies  not  but  in  a  power  above 
man's  to  promise ;  but  that  none  hath  by  more  studious  ways 
endeavoured,  and  with  more  unwearied  spirit  that  none  shall, — that 
I  dare  almost  aver  of  myself,  as  far  as  life  and  free  leisure  will  ex- 
tend, and  that  the  land  had  once  enfranchised  herself  from  this  im- 
pertinent yoke  of  Prelaty,  under  whose  inquisitorious  and  tyrannical 
duncery  no  free  and  splendid  wit  can  flourish.  Neither  do  I  think 
it  shame  to  covenant  with  any  knowing  reader  that  for  some  few 
years  yet  I  may  go  on  trust  with  him  toward  the  payment  of  what  I 
am  now  indebted,  as  being  a  work  not  to  be  raised  from  the  heat  of 
youth,  or  the  vapours  of  wine,  like  that  which  flows  at  waste  from 
the  pen  of  some  vulgar  amorist,  or  the  trencher  fury  of  a  riming 
parasite,  nor  to  be  obtained  by  the  invocation  of  Dame  Memory 
and  her  Siren  Daughters,  but  by  devout  prayer  to  that  Eternal 
Spirit  who  can  enrich  with  all  utterance  and  knowledge,  and  sends 
out  his  seraphim  with  the  hallowed  fire  of  his  altar  to  touch  and 
purify  the  lips  of  whom  he  pleases.  To  this  must  be  added 
industrious  and  select  reading,  steady  observation,  insight  into  all 
seemly  and  generous  arts  and  affairs  ;  till  which  in  some  measure 
be  compassed  at  mine  own  peril  and  cost,  I  refuse  not  to  sustain 
this  expectation  from  as  many  as  are  not  loth  to  hazard  so  much 
credulity  upon  the  best  pledges  that  I  can  give  them." 

The  reader  has  by  this  time  had  enough  perhaps  of  Milton 
speaking  about  himself.  By  way  of  variation  he  may  like 
now  to  have  a  specimen  of  what  other  people  were  saying 
and  publishing  about  Milton.  Here,  accordingly,  is  the  open- 
ing or  preface  of  a  pamphlet,  written  wholly  and  specially 
against  Milton,  whit -h  was  out  in  London  only  a  week  or  two 
after  that  of  Milton  from  which  we  have  been  quoting.  The 


390  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

circulations  of  the  two  pamphlets  must  indeed  have  clashed 
in  some  English  households  : — 

"To  THE  READER. 

"  Reader  :  If  thou  hast  any  general  or  particular  concernment  in 
the  affairs  of  these  times,  or  but  natural  curiosity,  thou  art  ac- 
quainted with  the  late  and  hot  bickerings  between  the  Prelates  and 
Smectymnuans.  To  make  up  the  breaches  of  whose  solemn  scenes 
(it  were  too  ominous  to  say  tragical)  there  is  thrust  forward  upon 
the  stage,  as  also  to  take  the  ear  of  the  less  intelligent,  a  scurrilous 
Mime, — a  personated,  and,  as  himself  thinks,  a  grim,  lowering,  bitter 
Fool.  I  have  no  farther  notice  of  him  than  he  hath  been  pleased, 
in  his  immodest  and  injurious  Libel,  to  give  of  himself,  and  there- 
fore, as  our  industrious  critics,  for  want  of  clearer  evidence  con- 
cerning the  life  and  manners  of  some  revived  authors,  must  fetch 
his  character  from  some  scattered  passages  in  his  own  writings.  It 
seems  he  hath  been  initiated  in  the  Arts  by  Jack  Seton  and 
Bishop  Downam,1  confirmed  a  logician ;  and,  as  he  says  his  com- 
panions did,  it  is  like  he  '  spent  his  youth  in  loitering,  bezzling,  and 
harloting.'  Thus,  being  grown  to  an  imposthume  in  the  breast  of 
the  University,  he  was  at  length  vomited  out  thence  into  a  suburb 
sink  about  London ;  which,  since  his  coming  up,  hath  groaned 
under  two  ills, — him  and  the  Plague.  Where  his  morning  haunts 
are  I  wist  not ;  but  he  that  would  find  him  after  dinner  must  search 
the  playhouses  or  the  bordelli,  for  there  I  have  traced  him.  [Here, 
in  justification  of  this  inference  respecting  Milton's  afternoon  haunts 
and  habits,  the  author  quotes  from  Milton's  pamphlets  these  phrases 
from  the  Playhouse  or  worse, — old  cloaks,  false  beards,  tires,  cases, 
periwigs,  Modena  vizards,  night-walking cudgellers,  salt-lotion.']  Marry, 
of  late,  since  he  was  out  of  wit  and  clothes,  as  Stilpo  merrily  jeered 
the  poor  starveling  Crates,  he  is  now  clothed  in  serge  and  confined 
to  a  parlour ;  whence  he  blasphemes  God  and  the  King,  as  ordi- 
narily erewhile  he  drank  sack  and  swore.  Hear  him  speak  [here 
are  introduced  a  few  coarsish  passages  from  Milton].  Christian, 
dost  thou  like  these  passages  1  or  doth  thy  heart  rise  against  such 
unseemly  beastliness  ?  Nay,  but  take  this  head  [another  quotation 
from  Milton].  Horrid  blasphemy  !  You  that  love  Christ  and  know 
this  miscreant  wretch,  stone  him  to  death,  lest  yourselves  smart  for 
his  impunity.  This  is  my  adversary ;  to  encounter  whom  at  his 
own  weapons  I  am  much  too  weak,  and  must  despair  of  victory, 
unless  it  may  be  gotten  by  the  strength  of  a  good  cause  and  a 
modest  defence  of  it.  I  dare  not  say  but  there  may  be  hid  in  my 
nature  as  much  venomous  Atheism  and  profanation  as  hath  broken 
out  at  his  lips  (every  one  that  is  infected  with  the  sickness  hath 

1  This  means  that  Milton  had  been  Kerry,   and    who    died    in  1634,   had 

educated  at  Cambridge, — where  Seton's  taught  the  Ramist  Logic  from  and  after 

Logic  was  an  established  text-book,  and  1590.     See  ant$,  Vol.  I.  pp.  262—265, 

where  Downham,  afterwards  Bishop  of  footnotes. 


1642]  ATTACK  ON  MILTON  BY  THE  HALLS.  391 

not  the  sores  running  upon  him) ;  of  which  should  I  be  as  lavish 
as  he  hath  been,  it  might  be  said  of  us  that  we  encountered  one  the 
other  like  a  toad  and  a  spider,  and  each  died  of  the  other's  poison, 
or,  whiles  we  should  seem  to  fall  out  about  some  petty  matters  in 
Religion,  we  well  enough  agreed  together  to  be  eminently  wicked. 
It  is  my  prayer  to  God  that  all  those  and  the  like  scandals  with 
which  he  and  I  may  grieve  the  Church  may  be  forgiven  to  him 
and  prevented  in  me,  and  that  in  his  good  time  Himself  would 
undertake  the  curing  of  his  Church's  wounds,  which,  by  the 
ignorance  of  some  and  malice  of  others,  are  likely  to  be  but  worse 
for  the  plaster. — Farewell ! " 

These  are  refreshing  observations,  and  in  beautiful  taste. 
Whose  are  they  ?  As  far  as  is  known,  they  are  Bishop  Hall's, 
or  his  son's,  or  a  concoction  by  the  father  and  the  son  between 
them.  Here  we  must  go  back  a  little  in  our  story. 

The  reader  has  not  forgotten  the  Smectymnuan  series  of 
Pamphlets.  These  were  (1)  Bishop  Hall's  Humble  Remon- 
strance, the  origin  of  all,  published  in  January  1640-41 ;  (2) 
the  bulky  Smectymnuan  Answer  to  the  Humble  Remonstrance, 
published  in  March  1640-41 ;  (3)  Bishop  Hall's  Defence  of 
the  Humble  Remonstrance  against  Smectymnuus,  published  in 
April  1641 ;  (4)  The  Smectymnuan  rejoinder  entitled  A  Vin- 
dication of  the  Answer  to  the  Humble  Remonstrance,  published 
in  June  1641 ;  and  (5)  Milton's  Animadversions  upon  the  Re- 
monstrant, written  in  aid  of  his  friends  the  Smectymnuans, 
and  published  in  July  1641. 

So  far  the  Smectymuuans  had  had  the  last  word.  Nay, 
they  had  twice  had  the  last  word, — first,  in  No.  4  of  the  series, 
or  their  own  "  Vindication  of  their  Answer,"  and  next  in  No. 
5,  or  Milton's  auxiliary  "  Animadversions."  But  Hall  was  not 
the  man  to  leave  matters  in  this  state.  In  July  or  August 
1641  there  had  appeared  A  Short  Answer  to  the  Tedious 
Vindication  of  Smectymnuus  :  By  the  Autlwr  of  the  Humble 
Remonstrance?  This  formed  No.  6  of  the  Smectymnuan  series 
of  pamphlets,  and  was  intended  as  a  demolition  of  No.  4. 
It  consists  of  1 1 9  pages  in  all,  and  is  in  Hall's  usual  style, 
going  back  upon  the  "  Areopagi,"  the  "  light  froth,"  &c.2  The 

1  "  Printed  for  Nathaniel  Butter,  in       in    the    Stationers'    Books    July    28, 
Paul's  Churchyard,  at  the  Pyde  Bull,       1611. 
near  St.  Austin's  Gate " :   Registered          *  See  a*#,  pp.  254,  256. 


392  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

reader  need  be  troubled  with  no  more  of  it  here  than  the 
concluding  sentences.  "  Since  I  see,"  Hall  there  says,  "  that 
"  our  Smectymnuans  have  vowed  (like  as  some  impetuous 
"  scolds  are  wont  to  do)  to  have  the  last  word,  and  have  set  up 
"  a  resolution  (taking  advantage  of  their  multitude)  to  tire 
"  out  their  better-employed  adversary  with  mere  length  of 
"  discourse,  and  to  do  that  by  bulk  of  body  which  by  clear 
"  strength  they  cannot,  I  have  determined  to  take  off  my 
"  hand  from  this  remaining  controversy  of  Episcopacy 
•'  (wherein  I  have  said  enough,  without  the  return  of  answer, 
"  and  indeed  anticipated  all  their  thread -bare  objections 
"  which  are  here  again  regested  to  the  weary  reader),  and  to 
"  turn  off  my  combined  opposites  to  matches  more  fit  for  their 
"  age  and  quality :  with  this  profession  notwithstanding, — 
"  that,  if  I  shall  find  (which  I  hope  I  never  shall)  this  just 
"  and  holy  cause  (whether  out  of  insensibleness  or  cautious 
"  reservedness)  neglected  by  more  able  defenders,  I  shall 
"  borrow  so  much  time  from  my  better  thoughts  as  to  bestow 
"  some  strictures  where  I  may  not  afford  a  large  confutation."1 
Whether,  when  Hall  wrote  these  words,  he  had  seen  No.  5  of 
the  Smectymnuan  series — i.e.  Milton's  Animadversions — must 
remain  doubtful.  Quite  possibly  not ;  for  Milton's  pamphlet, 
though  in  order  it  is  No.  5  of  the  Smectymnuan  series,  seems 
to  have  appeared  almost  simultaneously  with  this  No.  6.  Or 
it  may  be  that  the  above  closing  words  of  No.  6  contain  an 
allusion  to  No.  5  as  having  just  come  into  Hall's  hands, 
but  too  late  to  be  noticed  by  him  in  the  pamphlet  then  at 
press,  and  which  was  a  reply  to  the  Smectymnuan  No.  4. 

But  that  this  No.  5,  those  anonymous  Animadversions  on 
the  Remonstrant,  should  be  out  in  the  world  unanswered 
must  have  been  an  annoyance  to  Hall.  For  this  anonymous 
auxiliary  to  the  Smectymnuans  was  a  much  more  formidable 
adversary  than  the  Smectymnuans  themselves.  Here  was 
no  mere  heavy  plodder,  reasoning  on  the  subjects  of  Liturgy 
and  Episcopacy,  but  a  man  who  could  intermingle  his  reason- 
ings on  these  subjects  with  thoughts  of  power,  and  passages 

1  Pp.  102,  103,  of  pamphlet. 


1642.]  ATTACK  ON  MILTON  BY  THE  HALLS.  393 

of  eloquence  and  invective.  Nay,  what  was  hardest  to  bear, 
here  was  a  man  to  whom  Hall's  whole  literary,  as  well  as 
his  Episcopal  career,  seemed  to  be  familiar,  and  who  had 
evidently  an  extreme  contempt  for  his  abilities  as  well  as  a 
dislike  of  his  principles.  That  one  whose  reputation  in  the 
English  world  of  letters  dated  from  the  days  of  Elizabeth 
should  now,  in  his  sixty-eighth  year,  be  held  up  to  scorn  by 
an  anonymous  critic  as  only  a  low-tempered  practitioner  of 
spurious  rhetoric  was  too  much  to  be  borne.  For  still  the 
worst  of  it  was  that  the  anonymous  critic  was  evidently  not 
a  nobody,  but  a  man  himself  cultivated  in  letters  and  the 
history  of  letters,  with  a  genius  that  could  soar,  as  well  as 
a  wit  that  could  sting.  To  suppose,  for  example,  that  Hall 
could  have  read  that  extraordinary  burst  of  prayer  in  the 
Animadversions  beginning  "  0,  if  we  freeze  at  noon "  (see 
ant&,  pp.  267-8),  without  recognising  in  the  writer  some  one 
more  than  his  own  equal  in  poetic  expression,  would  be  simply 
to  suppose  that  Hall,  with  all  his  literary  celebrity,  did  not 
know  what  literary  merit  was.  There  is  not  the  least  doubt, 
however,  that  Hall  did  appreciate,  more  than  was  comfort- 
able for  himself,  the  powers  of  his  new  antagonist. 

As  the  Animadversions  had  been  in  circulation  since  July 
1641,  the  wonder  is  that  Hall,  who  wrote  readily,  had  not  at 
once  published  an  answer.  But  the  autumn  of  1641  had 
passed,  and  the  next  winter,  and  even  the  spring  of  1641-2, 
and  still  no  reply  had  appeared.  There  may  have  been 
various  reasons  for  this.  Actually  too  much  amazed  at  first 
to  answer,  Hall  may  have  afterwards  found  it  best  for  a 
while  to  assume  the  "  silent  contempt "  mood ;  or  he  may 
have  taken  refuge  in  his  declaration,  in  the  end  of  his  last 
pamphlet,  that,  for  his  part,  the  Smectymnuan  controversy 
should  now  be  at  an  end,  unless  something  extraordinary 
happened.  Then,  from  October  onwards,  there  had  been 
the  unusual  press  of  Church  business  in  Parliament,  occupy- 
ing the  thoughts  and  time  of  all  the  Bishops  there,  and 
»-in ling  at  Christmas  with  the  imprisonment  of  Hall  and  his 
brother  Bishops  for  their  famous  Protest.  Hall  remained  a 
prisoner  in  the  Tower  eighteen  weeks  in  all,  or  from  Christmas 


394  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

1641  till  May  5,  1642  ;  during  which  time,  however,  the 
custody  of  him  and  the  other  Bishops  was  not  so  strict  but 
that  they  might  see  visitors  and  friends.  In  the  Tower, 
accordingly,  if  not  before,  Hall  had  leisure  to  think  of  those 
unanswered  Animadversions.  But,  indeed,  he  had  been 
thinking  of  them  before.  He  had  been  making  inquiries 
respecting  the  author.1  There  being  no  real  concealment  of 
Milton's  name,  and  the  fact  of  his  being  a  Cambridge  man 
having  been  ascertained,  it  was  easy  for  Hall,  himself  a 
Cambridge  man,  to  find  out  more.  Could  they  tell  him 
anything  down  at  Cambridge  of  the  character  and  college 
reputation  of  one  Milton,  who  had  been  at  Christ's,  and  had 
taken  his  master's  degree  in  or  about  1632?  Such,  in  effect, 
was  the  tenor  of  Hall's  inquiries,  whether  sent  to  Cambridge, 
or  only  put  incidentally  to  people  likely  to  know.  And  to 
assist  Hall  in  such  inquiries,  and  in  fact  make  them  for 
him,  there  was  his  son,  the  Rev.  Robert  Hall,  M.A.,  Canon- 
residentiary  of  Hall's  old  see  of  Exeter,  but  now  much  in 
London.  This  Rev.  Robert  Hall,  the  Bishop's  eldest  son, 
had  been  incorporated  into  Oxford  and  had  taken  his  M.A. 
degree  there ;  but  he  had  received  his  first  academic  edu- 
cation, and  taken  his  B.A.  degree,  at  Cambridge.2  He  was 
about  two  years  Milton's  senior,  and  they  may  have  been  at 
Cambridge  for  some  time  together.  In  short,  Hall,  having 
made  up  his  mind  at  last  that  it  would  be  useful  to  notice 
the  Animadversions,  did,  some  time  after  the  commencement 
of  1642,  publish  such  a  notice  or  authorize  its  publication. 
"  A  Modest  Confutation  of  a  Slanderous  and  Scurrilous  Libell 
intituled  Animadversions  upon  the  Remonstrant's  Defence 
against  Smectymnuus :  Printed  in  the  year  1642  ":  such  is 
the  title  of  this  new  pamphlet ;  which  we  may  call  No.  7  of 
the  Smectymnuan  series.  The  writer  (if  rumour  at  the  time, 
and  the  style  and  manner  of  the  pamphlet  itself,  are  to  be 
taken  as  proof)  was  mainly  Hall ;  but  parts  may  have  been 
written  by  his  son,  who  may  also  have  acted  as  editor. 


i  Our  authority  for  this  is  Milton  2  Wood's  Fasti :  I.  449,  and  II.  69. 
himself,  who  had  been  informed  of  the  Hall  was  made  D.D.  of  Oxford  in 
fact :  see  sequel.  1643. 


1642.]  ATTACK  ON  MILTON  BY  THE  HALLS.  395 

It  is  from  this  pamphlet,  copies  of  which  must  now  be 
extremely  scarce,1  that  we  have  already  extracted,  for  the 
reader's  entertainment,  the  beautiful  opening  Address,  in 
which  Milton  is  described  as  a  blackguard  whom  the 
University  had  "  vomited  forth,"  and  who  was  now  living, 
no  one  knew  how,  in  a  "  suburb-sink "  of  London.  The 
pamphlet,  however,  is  a  longish  affair.  It  consists  of  40 
small  quarto  pages,  divided  numerically  into  twelve  sections. 
In  each  section  a  portion  of  the  Animadversions  is  cited  and 
replied  to.  Without  taking  much  account  of  what  is  again 
said  on  the  subjects  of  Episcopacy  and  the  Liturgy,  let  us 
attend  chiefly  to  the  personalities  between  Milton  and  Hall 
with  which  the  pamphlet  abounds. 

There  is,  of  course,  plenty  of  reiterated  abuse  of  Milton 
in  the  style  of  the  opening  Address  to  the  Reader.  "  Such 
carping  poetasters  as  you,"  says  the  Confuter  in  one  place, 
showing  that  he  knew  of  Milton's  pretensions  to  poetry. 
"  Which  shows,"  he  says  in  another  place,  referring  to  a 
disagreeable  simile  of  Milton's,  "  that  you  can  be  as  bold 
with  a  Prelate  as  familiar  with  your  laundress."  In  a  third 
place,  referring  to  an  incidental  phrase  of  Milton's,  to  the 
effect  that,  though  no  Bishop,  he  could  discuss  such  and 
such  topics,  the  Confuter  says  ironically  that  it  had  been 
thought  by  some  that,  when  philosophers  had  denounced 
riches,  and  pleasures,  and  high  places,  it  had  often  been  on 
the  principle  of  the  Fox  in  the  fable,  who  called  the  grapes 
sour  that  were  out  of  his  reach.  He  will  not  be  so  uncha- 
ritable, however,  as  to  suppose,  in  the  case  of  the  author  of 
the  Animadversions,  that  it  was  mortified  ambition  in  not 
having  seen  his  own  way  to  high  rank  in  the  Church  that 
had  made  him  such  an  Anti-Prelatist  By  all  accounts,  he 
had  other  and  more  practicable  aims.  "  A  rich  widow,  or 
a  lecture,  or  both,  contents  you."  A  good  deal  of  Milton's 
pamphlet,  it  is  hinted,  was  written  to  win  the  widow.  "To 
"  thf  first  (i.e.  the  widow)  you  make  way  by  a  long,  tedious, 


>  In  a  copy  of  tho  pamphlet  among       Mr.  Milton  "  arc  written  on 
the  King's   Pamphlet*  in  tho   Britten       page  in  a  contemporary  hand. 


the  title- 


Museum  (E.1-*4)  the  word*    "Against 


396  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  theatrical,  bigmouthed,  astounding  prayer,  put  up  in  the 
"  name  of  the  Three  Kingdoms," — this  is  that  extraordinary 
prayer  in  the  Animadversions  with  which,  on  mere  literary 
grounds,  we  have  supposed  it  impossible  that  Hall  should 
not  have  been  struck, — "  not  so  much  to  please  God  or  benefit 
"  the  weal-public  by  it  as  to  intimate  your  own  good  abilities 
"  to  her  that  is  your  rich  hopes : — 

"  '  Petit  Gemellus  nuptias  Maronillse, 
Et  cupit,  et  instat,  et  precatur.' " 

But,  amid  much  to  the  like  effect,  there  is  a  constant  return 
on  the  subject  of  Milton's  bizarre  and  piebald  style.  He  is 
strongly  taken  to  task,  in  particular,  for  his  profanity  and 
bad  taste  in  having  mix^ed  coarse  and  slang  terms  with  the 
discussion  of  sacred  matters.  "  What  moral  precept  in 
"  Solomon,"  asks  the  Confuter,  "  countenances  such  language 
"  as  this  :  scum,  ladles,  kitchen,  physic,  'brawn,  beef,  kickshaws, 
"  and  crambo-prayers,  motley  and  patched  incoherences,  with 
"  heypass-repass  and  the  mystical  man  of  Sturbridge,  your 
"  barber  leading  in  Balaams  ass,  Christ  and  his  Apostles, 
"  capon  and  white-broth,  in  the  same  leaf ;  Esau's  red  pottage 
<(  and  a  spur-galled  galloway ;  bastards  and  centaurs  of 
"  spiritual  fornications ;  a  Christian  ministers  surplice  and 
"  an  Egyptian  priest's  frock  in  the  same  suds ;  your  primer o 
"  of  piety,  cogging  of  dice  into  heaven ;  gleeking  and  Bacchanalia, 
"  and  flanks  and  briskets,  &c."  ?  The  phrases  in  italics  are 
all  quoted  from  Milton's  pamphlet  as  instances  of  his  bad 
taste,  the  Confuter  winding  up,  "  Such  language  you  should 
"  scarce  hear  from  the  mouths  of  canting  beggars  at  an 
"  heathen  altar ;  much  less  was  it  looked  for  in  a  treatise 
"  of  controversial  theology."  Then,  among  other  things, 
Milton's  defence  of  the  philological  slip  of  the  Smectymnuans 
in  the  matter  of  the  Areopagi  is  redargued,  and  his  references 
to  Bacon  declared  invalid,  and  met  by  counter-citations  of 
Bacon,  Sandys,  Machiavelli,  and  others. 

In  most  of  these  passages  of  abuse  of  Milton  I  detect  Hall's 
own  hand.  His  hand  may  also  be  distinctly  detected  in  those 
parts  of  the  pamphlet  which  are  defences  of  himself,  although 


1642.]  ATTACK  ON  MILTON  BY  THE  HALLS.  397 

here  much  is  so  directly  and  luxuriantly  eulogistic  of  the 
Prelate's  character  and  career  that  it  must  be  attributed  to  the 
filial  hand  of  his  coadjutor.    Milton's  contemptuous  references 
to  Hall's  purely  literary  performances, — his  English  Satires, 
and  his  Latin  burlesque  Mundiis  Alter  et  Idem, — had  evidently 
been  very  nettling ;    and  there  is,  accordingly,  a  special  and 
rather  long  defence  of  the  Satires.     "You  begin  with  his 
"  youth,"  says  the  Confuter,  addressing  Milton ;    "  the  sport 
"  and  leisure  of  his  youth,  even  that  must  be  raked  out  of 
"  the  dust,  and  cited  to  witness  against  him,  as  it  were  to 
"  disparage  the  holiness  of  his  age  and  calling."     The  Satires 
had  been  written  by  Hall  in  his  youth,  continues  the  Confuter, 
to  whip  vices  from  which  he  had  freed  himself;  "which 
"  timely  zeal,  as  it  did  not  misbecome  his  youth,  so  can  it  not 
"  disparage  his  Prelacy, — no,  not  as  Poesy,  not  as  Satire.     The 
"  first  you  condemn  ;  and  the  latter  I  will  maintain  against 
"  greater  critics  than  you  would  dare  boast  to  have  been  con- 
"  versant  with."     Then  follow  two  or  three  pages  of  critical 
defence  of  the  Satires,  and  of  the  name  that  had  been  given 
to  them,  fortified  by  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  this  form  of 
literature,  and  quotations  from  Horace,  Martial,  Chaucer,  and 
Sir  David  Lindsay.     All  this  is  pretty  certainly  Hall's  own  ; 
but  the  following,  in  answer  to  Milton's  epithets,  "  a  false 
prophet,"  "  a  belly-god,  proud  and  covetous,"  "  a  Laodicean," 
"  a  dissembling  Joab,"  as  applied  to  Hall,  must  have  been 
written  by  his  son  : — "  Good  God  !  .  .  view  well  that  heap  of 
"  age  and  reverence,  and  say  whether  that  clear  and  healthful 
"  constitution,   those    fresh    cheeks    and    quick    eyes,   that 
"  round  tongue,  agile  hand,  nimble  invention,  staid  delivery, 
11  quiet,  calm  and  happy  bosom,  be  the  effect  of  three-score 
"  years'  surfeit  and  gluttony.     What  time  could  he  steal 
"  to  bestow  upon  Mammon,  the  god  of  this  world,  whose 
"  whole  life  hath  been  nothing  but  a  laborious  search  after 
"  human  and  divine  truths;  which  having  picked  out  (as 
"  that  little  miracle  of  nature  doth  honey)  from  weeds  and 
"  flowers,  he  did   not  improper   to   himself,  but   liberally 
"  dealt  them  to  the  good  of  the  public !  .  .  May  ye  stay  for 
"  such  another  glorious  light  of  the  Church  till  ye  can  deserve 


398  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  him  !  .  .  .  Had  former  times  shown  him,  or  foreign  Churches 
"  nourished  him,  he  that  is  now  your  scorn  had  been  your 
"  wonder  ;  happy  had  that  man  been  that  could  have  dressed 
"  a  sermon  in  his  grave  and  weighty  sentences  or  his  study 
"  with  his  picture."  If  Hall  was  in  the  Tower  when  this  was 
written,  there  may  have  been  a  motive  for  the  eulogy,  as  well 
as  for  the  following  respectful  reference  to  the  Parliament  in 
an  earlier  part  of  the  pamphlet :  "  The  sun  looks  not  on  a 
"  braver,  nobler  Convocation  than  is  that  of  King,  Peers  and 
"  Commons,  whose  equal  justice  and  wise  moderation  shall 
"  eternally  triumph,  in  that  they  have  hitherto  deferred  to  do 
"  what  the  sour  exorbitancies  on  one  hand  and  eager  solicita- 
"  tions  on  the  other,  not  permitting  them  to  consult  with 
"  reason,  would  have  prompted  them  to."  These  words  are 
probably  Hall's  own.  They  seem  to  imply  that  the  Bishops 
Ejection  Bill  had  not  yet  been  passed  by  the  Peers  and  the 
King ;  and,  if  so,  the  pamphlet,  though  bearing  to  be  printed 
in  1 6  4  2 ,  must  have  been  written  before  February  1641-2.  If 
written  after  the  14th  of  that  month,  when  the  King's  consent 
to  the  Exclusion  Bill  was  given,  the  words  indicate  a  singular 
abatement  of  Hall's  courage. 

For  personal  reasons,  as  well  as  from  regard  to  his  Smec- 
tymnuan  friends  and  their  cause,  Milton  felt  himself  bound 
to  answer  the  pamphlet  of  Hall  and  his  son.  Accordingly, 
shortly  after  its  appearance — probably  in  March  or  April  1642 
— there  came  forth  what  we  will  call  No.  8  in  the  Smectym- 
nuan  series,  or  the  fifth  of  Milton's  own  pamphlets  on  the 
Church  Question.  It  bore  this  title  :  "  An  Apology  against  a 
Pamphlet  call'd  A  Modest  Confutation  of  the  Animadversions 
of  the  Remonstrant  against  Smectymnuus  :  London,  Printed  ~by 
E.  Gr.  for  John  Rothwell,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  the  Signe  of  the 
Sunne  in  Paul's  Churchyard,  1642"  Here  Milton,  it  will  be 

1  In  a  copy  of  the  pamphlet  in  the       Prentices  of  London ;   which  fixes  the 

British  Museum  (E.  !£)  the  words  «  By  **ft  £f  ***  Publication  as  after  Feb.  4 

v       54  1641-2.      On  the  other  hand,  there  are 

Mr.   Milton :    Ex  dono  Autlioris "  are  such    allusions    to    the    exclusion    of 

written  on  the  title-page,  by  a  contem-  Bishops  from  Parliament  as  an  event 

porary  hand, — which,  however,  is  not  only  just  accomplished,  or  in  the  act  of 

Milton's  own.      The  pamphlet  contains  being  accomplished,  that,  though  the 

allusions  to  the  numerous  Anti-Episco-  pamphlet  is  dated  1642,  it  inmy  have  been 

pal  Petitions  to  Parliament, — including  in  print  before  the  formal  commence- 

the  Petitions  of  the  Women  and  the  ment  of  that  year,  i.e.  before  March  25. 


1642.]  ATTACK  ON  MILTON  BY  THE  HALLS.  399 

observed,  relapses,  as  the  state  of  the  case  required,  into  the 
anonymous;  but  his  publisher  is  the  same  "Rothwell"  who 
had  published  his  last,  or  acknowledged,  pamphlet,  and  not 
the  "  Underbill "  who  had  published  his  first  three  pamphlets, 
including  the  Animadversions. 

The  pamphlet  consists  of  55  pages  of  close  type,  small 
quarto.  The  arrangement  accords  formally  with  that  of  the 
pamphlet  to  which  it  is  an  answer.  In  other  words,  there 
are  introductory  observations,  followed  by  twelve  sections  of 
text,  in  reply  to  the  twelve  sections  of  the  other  side.  But  the 
matter  is  so  mixed  throughout  that  it  will  be  best  here  not  to 
follow  the  numerical  order,  but  rather  to  mass  the  substance 
of  what  Milton  says  under  the  three  heads  of  Self-Defence 
against  the  Aspersions  on  his  Character,  Fartlier  Attacks  on 
Hall,  and  Farther  Expressions  of  Opinion  on  the  Church 
question.  Milton,  it  ought  to  be  premised,  distinctly  assumes, 
ad  a  fact  of  which  he  had  evidence  satisfactory  to  himself, 
that  his  antagonists  were  Hall  and  his  son ;  and  one  can  see 
him,  as  he  writes,  regarding  the  father  as  the  principal 
throughout,  and  the  son  as  only  a  subordinate.  He  also 
states  that  he  had  been  "  credibly  informed  "  that  Hall  hud 
been  making  private  inquiries  about  him. 

Milton  begins  calmly  and  gravely  with  a  repetition  of  his 
reasons  for  engaging  in  the  Church  controversy.  It  was  a 
time  when  no  Englishman  ought  to  stand  neutral ;  and,  in 
his  case,  the  consciousness  of  "  gifts  of  God's  imparting  "  and 
of  "  almost  a  whole  youth  "  spent  in  "  wearisome  labours  and 
studious  watchings  "  acquitted  him  of  presumption.  There- 
fore it  was  that  he  had  "  not  doubted  to  single  forth,  more 
than  once,  such  of  them  as  were  thought  the  chief  and  most 
nominated  opposers  on  the  other  side,  whom  no  man  else 
undertook."  Especially  he  had  felt  himself  called  upon  to 
come  to  the  aid  of  his  reverend  friends,  the  Smectymnuans, 
against  the  Remonstrant.  "  I  had  no  fear,"  he  says,  "  but 
"  that  the  authors  of  Smectyinnuus,  to  all  the  show  of  solidity 
"  which  the  Remonstrant  could  bring,  were  prepared  both 
"  with  skill  and  purpose  to  return  a  sufficing  answer,  and 
"  were  able  enough  to  lay  the  dust  and  pudder  in  antiquity 


400  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  which  he  and  his,  out  of  stratagem,  are  wont  to  raise ;  but, 
"  when  I  saw  his  weak  arguments  headed  with  sharp  taunts, 
"  and  that  his  design  was,  if  he  could  not  confute  them,  at 
"  least  with  quips  and  snapping  adagies  to  vapour  them  out, — 
"  which  they,  bent  only  upon  the  business,  were  minded  to  let 
"  pass, — by  how  much  more  I  saw  them  taking  little  thought 
"  for  their  own  injuries,  I  must  confess  I  took  it  as  my  part 
"  the  less  to  endure  that  my  respected  friends,  through  their 
"  own  unnecessary  patience,  should  thus  lie  at  the  mercy  of 
"  a  coy,  Hurting  style,  to  be  girded  with  frumps  and  curtal 
"  gibes  by  one  who  makes  sentences  by  the  statute,  as  if  all 
"  above  three  inches  long  were  confiscate."  3  Moreover,  it 
had  been  his  desire,  in  the  service  of  his  cause,  to  disabuse 
certain  people  of  "  the  conceit  that  all  who  are  not  Prelatical 
are  gross-headed,  thick-witted,  illiterate,  shallow,"  as  if 
"  nothing  but  Episcopacy  could  teach  men  to  speak  good 
English."  But,  in  becoming  a  controversialist,  he  had,  of 
course,  not  expected  to  escape  obloquy.  And  it  had  come 
upon  him.  It  had  come  upon  him,  however,  fortunately  in 
such  a  shape  that  there  was  something  almost  ludicrous  in 
its  inappropriateness.  His  friends,  indeed,  were  already  con- 
gratulating him  on  this.  With  so  many  forms  of  calumny 
possible,  why  had  Hall  and  his  son  made  such  a  blunder  as 
to  attack  Milton  on  the  ground  of  his  morals  ?  Perhaps, 
however,  Hall  had  his  motive  in  choosing  this  style  of  attack. 
To  those  who  knew  Milton  it  might  seem  absurd  ;  but  there 
was  a  wider  world  where  he  was  not  known,  and  where  Hall's 
pamphlet  might  be  read. 

"  I  must  be  thought,"  says  Milton,  "  if  this  libeller  can  find 
"  belief,  after  an  inordinate  and  riotous  youth  spent  at  the 
"  University,  to  have  been  at  length  vomited  out  thence."  He 
thanks  the  libeller  for  this  as  a  "  commodious  lie."  It  is 
commodious,  inasmuch  as  it  gives  him  (Milton)  an  oppor- 
tunity of  acknowledging  publicly  the  quite  extraordinary 

1  In  other  places    Milton  ridicules  our  modern  notion  of  prose  style  and 

Hall's  affection  for  short  "tizzical,"  or  the  older  notion  that  Milton  here,  in  a 

asthmatic,  sentences,  but  nowhere  so  sentence  about   "three  inches  long" 

characteristically    as    here.       It    is    a  itself,  should  laugh  at  an  author  for 

revelation    of  the  difference  between  always  keeping  within  that  length. 


1642.]  MILTON'S  FIFTH  PAMI-HLKT.  401 

"  favour  and  respect "  which  he  had  experienced  from  the 
authorities  of  his  College  and  others  during  his  student-life 
at  Cambridge.  It  had  been  much  against  the  will  of  the 
Fellows  of  Christ's  College  that  he  had  not  remained  among 
them  permanently  ;  since  his  leaving  the  College,  the  letters 
of  "  kindness  and  loving  respect "  he  had  received  from  them 
had  been  numerous l ;  and,  though  he  must  admit  that  he 
had  never,  even  in  his  youthful  years,  "  greatly  admired  "  the 
system  at  Cambridge,  and  now,  in  these  her  days  of  more 
ostentatious  Prelacy,  much  less,  yet  there  were  still  there 
"  ingenuous  and  friendly  men  "  to  whom  he  wished  the  best 
and  happiest  things  that  friends  in  absence  could  wisli  one 
another.  To  these,  and  to  the  recollections  of  all  his  coevals 
at  Cambridge,  he  could  appeal  for  any  testimony  that  might 
be  required  as  to  his  conduct  and  his  reputation  during  his 
University  career.  But  the  libeller,  it  seemed,  was  not  con- 
tent to  stop  at  the  University.  He  followed  him  to  London, 
tracing  him  to  a  "  suburb  sink  "  there,  where  he  and  the 
Plague  were  well-matched  associates.  "  A  suburb  sink  !"  we 
can  hear  Milton  saying  to  himself :  "  has  Hall  or  his  son 
taken  the  trouble  to  walk  all  the  way  down  to  Aldersgate 
here,  to  peep  up  the  entry  where  I  live,  and  so  have  an  exact 
notion  of  my  whereabouts  ?  There  has  been  plague  in  the 
neighbourhood,  certainly ;  and  I  hope  Jane  Yates  had  my 
door-step  tidy  for  the  visit."  Thus  we  can  imagine  Milton 
thinking;  but  in  his  pamphlet  he  contents  himself  with 
resenting  Hall's  impertinent  prying  into  such  matters  at  all. 
He  calls  him  mildly  a  "  rude  scavenger,"  and  tells  him  he  has 
a  worse  plague  than  the  ordinary  one  in  his  own  "  middle 

i  On  tho  faith  of  this  statement  of  left,  but  since  then  a  Fellow?  Chappell, 

Milton,  may  we  not  reckon  anion^  his  Milton's   first  tutor  at  Christ's,   is,    I 

( 'aniMridge  correspondents  since  ho  had  fear,  out  of  the  question,  both  from  the 

left  the  University  these:  Dr.  Thomas  nature  of  Milton's  connexion  with  him 

Ifciinhrigge,   still   Master  of   Christ's  ;  there  and  from  his  subsequent  career 

the  gooa  Joseph  Meade,  till  his  death  as  a  Laudian  and  Irish  bishop.      We 

>;  Edward   Kin-'  (Lyrida-),  till  shall  find  proof,  indeed,  that  Chapi»oll 

his  death  in  1637  ;  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  never  forgot  his  auarrel  with  his  old 

Tovey,  the  tutor  of  Milton  and  of  his  pupil,  and  spoke  ill  of  him.     I  have  an 

brother  Christopher  at  Christ's,   and  impression   that  a  good  deal   of    tho 

whoremainedtheretillhisapiM.intm.  iit  ><andal   aln.ut    Milton's    student    life, 

to  the  Rectory  of  Lottorwora  in  l''»57  ;  with  which  his  Prolatir  opponents  now 

and  perhaps  also  Henry  More,  only  an  began  to  assail  him,  cam. 

undergraduate  of  Christ'*  when  Milton  from 

VOL.   II  -    I' 


402  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

entrail,"  i.e.  heart,  or  spleen.  After  which  bit  of  elegance  he 
proceeds  to  work—  — "  Where  my  morning  haunts  are  he 
wisses  not,"  the  libeller  had  said.  Milton  will  give  him  the 
required  information.  "  These  morning  haunts  are  where 
"  they  should  be, — at  home  :  not  sleeping,  or  concocting  the 
"  surfeits  of  an  irregular  feast,  but  up  and  stirring, — in  winter 
"  often  ere  the  sound  of  any  bell  awake  men  to  labour  or  to 
"  devotion,  in  summer  as  oft  with  the  bird  that  first  rouses, 
"  or  not  much  tardier, — to  read  good  authors,  or  cause  them  to 
"  be  read,  till  the  attention  be  weary  or  memory  have  his  full 
"  fraught :  then,  with  useful  and  generous  labours  preserving 
"  the  body's  health  and  hardiness,  to  render  lightsome,  clear, 
"  and  not  lumpish  obedience  to  the  mind,  to  the  cause  of  Ee- 
"  ligion  and  our  Country's  Liberty,  when  it  shall  require  firm 
"  hearts  in  sound  bodies  to  stand  and  cover  their  stations, 
"  rather  than  see  the  ruin  of  our  Protestantism  and  the  en- 
"  forcement  of  a  slavish  life."-  —This  is  interesting.  Milton, 
it  seems,  has  for  some  time  been  practising  drill.  The  City 
Artillery  Ground  was  near  ;  where,  under  Skippon  and  other 
officers  of  the  Train-Bands,  one  might  have  daily  exercise  in 
the  pike  and  other  weapons,  and  in  marching.  Did  Milton, 
among  others,  make  a  habit  of  going  there  of  mornings  ?  Of 
this  more  hereafter ;  meanwhile  let  us  follow  him  into  his 
afternoons.—  —These,  according  to  his  antagonist,  he  spent 
in  playhouses  and  brothels  ;  else  how  could  he  have  attained 
his  familiarity  with  old  cloaks,  false  beards,  night-walkers,  salt- 
lotion,  and  other  such  terms  of  Corinthian  slang  ?  And,  pray, 
Milton  cleverly  retorts,  how  does  my  antagonist  himself  know 
the  meaning  of  such  terms,  if  they  can  be  known  only  in  one 
way  ?  But,  really,  one  might  acquire  such  learning  without 
taking  all  that  trouble.  Was  there  not,  for  example,  a  little 
book,  called  Mundus  Alter  et  Idem,  written  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Father  in  God  Joseph  Hall,  lately  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and 
now  Bishop  of  Norwich,  and  which  was,  for  its  size,  quite  an 
encyclopaedia  of  ribaldry  and  coarse  ideas  ?  Might  not  a 
poor  student  have  chanced  to  look  into  that  volume,  and  have 
enriched  his  vocabulary  accordingly  ?  Or,  even  without  that, 
had  not  the  Universities,  under  the  sway  of  Prelacy,  suffi- 


1642.]  MILTON'S  FIFTH  PAMPHLET.  403 

ciently  provided  for  the  instruction  even  of  undergraduates 
in  the  language  and  business  of  playhouses  and  bordelloes  ? 
Had  not  he,  Milton,  as  an  undergraduate  at  Cambridge,  seen 
University  dons,  who  were  then  students  of  Divinity,  and 
who  had  since  then  risen  to  high  places  in  the  Church,  acting 
in  obscene  Latin  and  English  plays  in  the  College  halls,  and 
"  writhing  their  clergy-limbs  "  most  abominably  ? 

For  a  while  Milton  proceeds  in  this  strain  of  fierce  banter, 
but  only  by  way  of  prelude  to  an  autobiographic  passage  of 
noble  seriousness,  which  is  the  gem  of  the  whole  pamphlet. 
It  is  that  passage  already  referred  to  by  us  long  ago,  and 
partly  quoted  from,1  where,  reviewing  the  whole  course  of  his 
youthful  life  and  studies,  he  expounds,  in  terms  so  memor- 
able, the  principle  on  which,  from  the  first,  he  had  been 
careful  to  build  up  his  character.  Let  the  reader  here  again 
remember  that  principle.  It  is  impossible  to  remember  it 
too  often  in  a  Life  of  Milton  ;.for  it  is,  without  exception,  the 
profoundest  thing  that  Milton  has  told  us  about  himself,  and 
the  key  to  all  that  we  now  call  Miltonic.  It  is  hinted,  or 
expounded,  in  not  a  few  of  Milton's  writings,  but  perhaps 
nowhere  with  such  roundness  and  precision  as  in  the  passage 
now  under  notice.  It  is  the  principle  of  the  inevitable  con- 
gruity  of  the  fruit  with  the  tree,  of  the  works  that  a  man 
may  do  in  the  world  with  that  man's  personality  or  secret 
and  intrinsic  self.  More  expressly,  it  is  the  principle  of  the 
necessity  of  moral  purity,  of  a  conscience  void  of  offence,  to 
a  life  of  the  highest  endeavour  or  the  highest  achieve- 
ment in  any  walk  whatsoever.  It  is  the  principle  that 
courage  or  magnanimity  presupposes  self-respect,  and  that 
consequently  he  who  would  lay  up  for  his  mature  years 
a  store  of  this  great  virtue  of  courage  or  magnanimity, 
who  would  look  all  men  in  the  face  unabashed,  and  dare 
nil  things  according  to  the  highest  conceptions  of  his 
reason,  must  begin  by  preserving  from  his  earliest  youth, 
and  in  the  most  secret  sessions  of  his  memory  of  himself, 
a  spotless  title  to  self-respect.  Applied  to  literature,  it  is 
the  principle  that  he  who  looks  forward  to  a  career  of 

»  V,,l.  F.  ,,|,.  814—316. 


404  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

great  things  in  that  kind  must,  if  he  would  not  be  frustrate 
of  his  hope,  make  his  own  life  a  true  poem  first  of  all.  On 
this  principle,  and  not  on  any  modification  of  the  opposite 
theory  so  much  in  favour, — the  "  wild  oats  theory,"  as  we 
ventured  to  call  it, — Milton  avows  that  his  own  life  had  been 
consciously  framed.  It  had  dawned  upon  him  at  an  early 
date,  and  it  had  gradually  acquired  strength  and  clearness,  so 
that,  amid  his  wide,  and  even  indiscriminate,  readings  in 
books,  it  had  affected  his  critical  judgments,  and  determined 
his  literary  likings  and  dislikings.  His  natural  niceness  or 
fastidiousness  of  disposition,  not  to  speak  of  his  Christian 
training,  would,  he  believed,  have  kept  him  free  from  the 
grosser  forms  of  vice,  even  without  the  aid  of  this  principle ; 
but,  with  this  principle  co-operating,  his  success  had  been  easy. 
Up  to  the  moment  at  which  he  was  then  writing,  he  chal- 
lenged all  inquiry,  however  rigorous,  into  his  past  life,  in 
those  respects  in  which  the  libeller  had  at  random  assailed  it ; 
and,  if  he  should  be  found  to  have  swerved  from  the  principle 
he  had  now  avowed,  let  him  be  branded  as  a  liar !  Nay, 
might  there  not  be  a  subtle  providence  in  the  accident  that 
had  led  thus  to  this  declaration  about  himself  and  this  ex- 
position of  a  principle  in  his  private  philosophy  ?  There  was 
probably  a  considerable  extent  of  life  yet  before  him,  in 
which  he  should  still  be  in  antagonism  to  men  high  in  the 
world's  esteem  and  should  be  pursued  by  hostile  criticism. 
He  had  willingly,  in  the  prospect  of  such  a  life,  given  his 
enemies  an  advantage.  He  had  registered  an  affirmation 
which,  if  at  any  time  they  could  disprove  it,  or  prove  that  he 
had  begun  to  be  unfaithful  to  it,  they  could  quote  to  his 
confusion. 

Of  Milton's  continued  hostility  to  Hall  throughout  the 
pamphlet  we  have  already  had  instances.  But,  indeed,  in 
every  page  Hall  is  gored  and  mangled.  His  unfortunate 
Mundus  Alter  et  Idem  is  again  and  again  hoisted  up,  and 
his  Satires  quoted  for  ridicule.  "  What  frigid  conceits  are 
these ! "  he  exclaims,  after  one  quotation  from  Hall's  Sixth 
Satire,  Book  IT.,  containing  the  phrase  "  Bridge  Street  in 
Heaven  "  and  the  like.  And  this  is  the  man  who,  with  such 


1642.]  MILTON'S  FIFTH  PAMPHLET.  405 

models  of  true  Satire  before  him  as  were  to  be  found  in  the 
Latin  and  Italian  writers,  and  in  the  English  Vision  and  deed 
of  Tiers  Plowman,  claimed  to  be  the  prototype  of  English 
satirists  !  Published  sermons  of  Hall  are  also  referred  to  and 
sneered  at ;  and,  with  elaborate  irony,  it  is  professed  (and,  I 
think,  truly)  that  no  one  who  knew  Hall's  style,  and  his 
uncandid  habit  of  always  begging  a  verdict  in  the  very  word- 
ing of  his  title-pages,  could  have  doubted  that  a  pamphlet 
entitling  itself  "  A  modest  Confutation  of  a  slanderous  and 
scurrilous  Libel,  &c.,"  was  written  by  Hall  or  under  his  eye. 
But  perhaps  what  Hall  and  his  son  must  have  disliked  most 
at  the  moment  were  Milton's  comments  on  the  fair  words 
they  had  thought  it  politic,  in  their  straits,  to  use  respecting 
the  Parliament  Quoting  their  phrase,  "  The  sun  looks  not 
upon  a  braver,  nobler  Convocation  than  is  that  of  King,  Peers, 
and  Commons,"  Milton  bids  the  reader  observe  the  wonderful 
"  decorum  "  of  the  expressions.  Did  this  "  cloistered  lubber," 
this  "  losel  Bachelor  of  Art "  (he  surely  means  the  son  here), 
know  no  better  than  "  to  term  the  high  and  sovran  Court  of 
Parliament  a  Convocation  "  ?  Was  this  the  flower  of  all  those 
voluminous  papers  (of  the  father's),  the  best  of  which  were 
predestined  to  no  better  end  than  to  be  winding-sheets  in 
Lent  for  pilchards  ?  And  then,  to  show  how  an  eulogium  on 
Parliament  slwidd  be  written,  Milton  writes  one  himself. 

The  new  expressions  which  the  pamphlet  contains  of 
Milton's  opinions  on  points  of  the  Church  question  will  be 
best  exhibited  in  the  form  of  extracts,  with  headings  prefixed 
to  them,  as  before  : — 

Praise  of  the  Parliament. — "  The  most  of  them  being  either  of 
ancient  and  high  nobility,  or  at  least  of  known  and  well-reputed 
ancestry, — which  is  a  great  advantage  towards  virtue  one  way, 
but,  in  respect  of  wealth,  ease,  and  flattery,  which  accompanies 
a  nice  and  tender  education,  is  as  much  a  hindrance  another  way, 
— the  good  which  lay  before  them  they  took,  in  imitating  their 
worthiest  progenitors,  and  the  evil  which  assaulted  their  younger 
years  by  the  temptation  of  riches,  high  birth,  and  that  usual  1  •ring- 
ing-lip, perhaps  too  favourable  or  too  remiss,  through  the  strength 
of  an  inbred  goodness,  and  with  the  help  of  divine  grace,  they  nobly 


406  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

overcame.  Yet  had  they  a  greater  danger  to  cope  with ;  for,  being 
trained  up  in  the  knowledge  of  learning,  and  sent  to  those  places 
which  were  intended  to  be  the  seed-plots  of  piety  and  the  liberal 
arts,  but  were  become  the  nurseries  of  superstition  and  empty 
speculation,  as  they  were  prosperous  against  those  vices  which  grow 
upon  youth  out  of  idleness  and  superfluity,  so  were  they  happy  in 
working  off  the  harms  of  their  abused  studies  and  labours,  cor- 
recting by  the  clearness  of  their  own  judgment  the  errors  of  their 
mis-instruction,  and  were,  as  David  was,  wiser  than  their  teachers. 
.  .  .  Thus,  in  the  midst  of  all  disadvantages  and  disrespects  (some 
also  at  last  not  without  imprisonment  and  open  disgraces  in  the 
cause  of  their  country),  having  given  proof  of  themselves  to  be 
better  made  and  framed  by  nature  to  the  love  and  practice  of  virtue 
than  others  under  the  holiest  precepts  and  best  examples  have 
been  headstrong  and  prone  to  vice,  and  having,  in  all  the  trials  of 
a  firm-ingrafted  honesty,  not  oftener  buckled  in  the  contest  than 
given  every  opposition  the  foil,  this  moreover  was  added  by 
Heaven,  as  an  ornament  and  happiness  to  their  virtue,  that  it 
should  be  neither  obscure  in  the  opinion  of  men,  nor  eclipsed  for 
want  of  matter  equal  to  illustrate  itself, — God  and  man  consenting 
in  joint  approbation  to  choose  them  out  as  worthiest  above  others 
to  be  both  the  great  reformers  of  the  Church  and  the  restorers  of 
the  Commonwealth." 

Illiteracy  of  the  Clergy. — "  This  is  undoubted, — that,  if  any 
carpenter,  smith,  or  weaver,  were  such  a  bungler  in  his  trade  as 
the  greater  number  of  them  are  in  their  profession,  he  would 
starve  for  any  custom.  And,  should  he  exercise  his  manufacture 
as  little  as  they  do  their  talents,  he  would  forget  his  art :  and, 
should  he  mistake  his  tools  as  they  do  theirs,  he  would  mar  all  the 
work  he  took  in  hand.  How  few  of  them  that  know  how  to  write 
or  speak  in  a  pure  style,  much  less  to  distinguish  the  ideas  and 
various  kinds  of  style !  In  Latin,  barbarous  and  oft  not  without 
solecisms,  declaiming  in  rugged  and  miscellaneous  gear  blown 
together  by  the  four  winds,  and  in  their  choice  preferring  the  gay 
rankness  of  Apuleius,  Arnobius,  or  any  modern  fustianist,  before 
the  native  Latinisms  of  Cicero.  In  the  Greek  tongue  most  of 
them  unlettered,  or  unentered  to  any  sound  proficiency  in  those 
Attic  masters  of  moral  wisdom  and  eloquence.  In  the  Hebrew 
text,  which  is  so  necessary  to  be  understood,  except  it  be  some  few 
of  them,  their  lips  are  utterly  uncircumcised.  No  less  are  they  out 
of  the  way  in  Philosophy, — pestering  their  heads  with  the  sapless 


1642.]  MILTON'S  FIFTH  PAMPHLET.  407 

dotages  of  old  Paris  and  Salamanca.  And,  that  which  is  the  main 
point,  in  their  sermons  affecting  the  comments  and  postils  of  Friars 
and  Jesuits,  but  scorning  and  slighting  the  Reformed  writers." 

The  /;//•///.</<  Liturgy. — "Inconveniences  and  dangers  follow  the 
compelling  of  [any]  set  forms ;  but  that  the  toleration  of  the 
English  Liturgy  now  in  use  is  more  dangerous  than  the  compelling 
of  any  other  which  the  Reformed  Churches  use,  these  reasons 
following  may  evince: — To  contend  that  it  is  fantastical,  if  not 
senseless,  in  some  places,  were  a  copious  argument,  especially  in 
the  Responsaries.  For  such  alternations  as  are  there  used  must 
be  by  several  persons ;  but  the  Minister  and  the  People  cannot  so 
sever  their  interests  as  to  sustain  several  persons,  he  being  only 
the  mouth  of  the  whole  body  which  he  presents.  And,  if  the 
people  pray,  he  being  silent,  or  they  ask  one  thing  and  he  another, 
it  either  changes  the  property,  making  the  priest  the  people  and 
the  people  the  priest  by  turns,  or  else  makes  two  persons  and  two 
bodies  representative  where  there  should  be  but  one, — which,  if  it 
be  nought  else,  must  needs  be  a  strange  quaintness  in  ordinary 
prayer.  The  like  or  worse  may  be  said  of  the  Litany,  wherein 
neither  priest  nor  people  speak  any  entire  sense  of  themselves 
throughout  the  whole  I-know-not-what-to-name-it ;  only,  by  the 
timely  contribution  of  their  parted  stakes,  closing  up  as  it  were  the 
schism  of  a  sliced  prayer,  they  pray  not  in  vain,  for  by  this  means 
they  keep  life  between  them  in  a  piece  of  gasping  sense,  and  keep 
down  the  sauciness  of  a  continual  rebounding  nonsense.  And 
hence  it  is  that,  as  it  hath  been  far  from  the  imitation  of  any 
warranted  prayer,  so  we  all  know  it  hath  been  obvious  to  be  the 
pattern  of  many  a  jig.  And  he  who  hath  but  read  in  good  books 
of  devotion  and  no  more  cannot  be  so  either  of  ear  or  judgment 
un}»nutisr(l  to  distinguish  what  is  grave,  pathetical,  devout,  and 
what  not,  but  will  presently  perceive  this  Liturgy  all  over  in  con- 
ception lean  and  dry,  of  affections  empty  and  unmoving,  of  passion 
or  any  highth  whereto  the  soul  might  soar  upon  the  wings  of  zeal 
destitute  and  barren  ;  besides  errors,  tautologies,  impertinences, — 
as  those  thanks  in  the  Woman's  Churching  for  her  delivery  from 
sunburning  and  moonblasting,  as  if  she  had  been  travailing  not 
in  In .T  bed,  but  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  So  that,  while  some 
men  cease  not  to  admire  the  incomparable  frame  of  our  Liturgy,  I 
cannot  but  admire  as  fast  what  they  think  is  become  of  judgment 
;ui'l  taste  in  other  men  that  they  can  hope  to  be  heard  without 
laughter." 


408  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Of  one  passage  of  personal  allusion  in  the  pamphlet  we 
have  taken  no  notice  hitherto.  It  is  Milton's  reply  to  the 
suggestion  that  he  was  looking  after  a  rich  widow,  and  had 
written  his  former  pamphlet,  and  especially  had  inserted  in 
it  the  extraordinary  prayer  in  the  name  of  the  three  king- 
doms, in  order  to  gain  this  widow's  affections.  In  part  of 
his  reply  Milton  is  properly  facetious  over  this  imputation, 
observing  that  she  must  be  a  strange  kind  of  widow  that  was 
to  be  won  in  this  fashion,  and  he  but  a  rustic  kind  of  wooer, 
far  less  deft  at  love-making  than  the  Remonstrant,  on  the 
evidence  of  his  Satires,  had  been  in  his  youth,  if  he  had  no 
other  fashion.  But  it  is  the  graver  part  of  his  reply  that  is 
the  most  interesting.  It  is  as  follows  : — 

"He  proceeds,  and  the  familiar  [i.e.  Hall's  informant  respecting 
Milton]  belike  informs  him,  that  a  rich  widow,  or  a  lecture,  or  both, 
tvould  content  me.  Whereby  I  perceive  him  to  be  more  ignorant 
in  his  art  of  divining  than  any  gypsy.  For  this  I  cannot  omit, 
without  ingratitude  to  that  Providence  above  who  hath  ever  bred 
me  up  in  plenty,  although  my  life  hath  not  been  inexpensive  in 
learning  and  voyaging  about : — So  long  as  it  shall  please  Him  to 
lend  me  what  He  hath  hitherto  thought  good  (which  is  enough  to 
serve  me  in  all  honest  and  liberal  occasions,  and  something  over 
besides),  I  were  unthankful  to  that  highest  bounty  if  I  should 
make  myself  so  poor  as  to  solicit  needily  any  such  kind  of  *  rich 
hopes '  as  this  fortune-teller  dreams  of.  And,  that  he  may  farther 
know  how  his  astrology  is  wide  all  the  houses  of  the  Heaven  in 
spelling  marriages,  I  care  not  if  I  tell  him  this  much  profestly, 
though  it  be  to  the  losing  of  my  '  rich  hopes,'  as  he  calls  them, — 
that  I  think  with  them  who,  both  in  prudence  and  elegance  of 
spirit,  would  chose  a  virgin  of  mean  fortunes,  honestly  bred, 
before  the  wealthiest  widow." 

What  have  we  here  ?  Surely  nothing  less,  if  we  choose  so 
to  construe  it,  than  a  marriage-advertisement.  Ho !  all  ye 
virgins  of  England  (widows  need  not  apply),  here  is  an  op- 
portunity such  as  seldom  occurs :  A  bachelor,  unattached ; 
age,  thirty-three  years  and  three  or  four  months ;  height, 
middle  or  a  little  less  ;  personal  appearance,  unusually  hand- 


1642.]  MILTON'S  FIFTH  PAMPHLET.  409 

some,  with  fair  complexion  and  light  aubum  hair ;  circum- 
stances, independent ;  tastes,  intellectual  and  decidedly 
musical ;  principles,  Root-and- Branch  !  Was  there  already 
any  young  maiden  in  whose  bosom,  had  such  an  advertise- 
ment come  in  her  way,  it  would  have  raised  a  conscious 
flutter  ?  If  so,  did  she  live  near  Oxford  ? 


CHAPTEE    VIII. 

DRIFTING  INTO  WAR  I    CHOOSING  OF  SIDES  :    RAISING  OF  THE 
KING'S  STANDARD. 

THE  King's  absence  from  Whitehall,  inconvenient  as  it 
had  been  from  the  first,  had  become  doubly  inconvenient 
since  he  had  gone  into  the  north  and  established  himself  at 
York  (March  19,  1641-2).  It  had  become  inconvenient 
on  the  supposition  that  the  national  business  was  still  to  be 
carried  on  constitutionally  by  King,  Lords,  and  Commons. 
On  another  supposition  it  was  even  convenient.  If  the 
King's  removal  to  York  was  to  be  interpreted  as  a  per- 
manent rupture  between  him  and  Parliament,  then  the 
separation  of  the  opposed  elements,  as  by  their  aggregation 
respectively  towards  two  poles,  distant  two  hundred  miles 
from  each  other,  was  convenient  for  both  parties. 

For  a  considerable  time  it  was  the  policy  of  both  parties  to 
proceed  publicly  as  if  the  separation  were  only  temporary. 
Messages  went  and  came  between  Westminster  and  York ; 
deputations  and  commissioners  went  and  came ;  elaborate 
declarations  and  papers  of  propositions  towards  a  settlement 
of  differences  went  and  came  :  to  get  the  King  to  return  to 
Whitehall  seemed  the  one  anxiety  of  Parliament.  All  in 
vain.  On  the  great  question  of  the  power  of  the  Militia  the 
King  would  not  yield  a  jot,  and  on  this  question  the  Parlia- 
ment remained  resolute.  Kept  apart,  accordingly,  by  this 
dispute,  the  two  parties  had  to  confine  themselves  to  such 
actions  as  were  competent  to  each  without  the  aid  of  the 
other,  or  to  declarations  of  mutual  hostility.1 

1  Clarendon  devotes  a  large  space,  a  negotiations  between  the  King  and  the 
whole  Book  of  his  History  (Book  V.),  Parliament  during  the  five  months 
to  the  narration  of  the  proceedings  and  of  their  separation  before  the  out- 


I'.IJ.J  DRIFTING  INTO  WAK.  411 

Among  the  King's  actions  may  be  mentioned  the  appoint- 
ment of  several  new  Bishops,  to  till  the  vacancies  left  after 
the  last  batch  of  promotions  and  appointments  in  the  previous 
November  and  December.1  As  Williains's  successor  in  the 
see  of  Lincoln,  there  had  been  appointed  (Jan.  5,  1641-2) 
Dr.  Thomas  Wiiiniffe,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's ;  and,  after  the 
King's  departure  from  Whitehall,  but  before  his  arrival  at 
York,  there  had  been  two  new  appointments.  Dr.  Henry 
King,  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  was  appointed  to  the 
see  of  Chichester,  vacant  by  the  promotion  of  Duppa ;  and 
Archbishop  Usher  was  nominated  (Feb.  16,  1641-2)  to  the 
see  of  Chester,  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Puritan  bishop 
Barnabas  Potter, — the  arrangement  being  that  Usher  should 
meanwhile  hold  this  English  bishopric  in  cwnmtndam  along 
with  his  Irish  Primacy.  Appointments  made  after  the 
King's  removal  to  York  were  that  of  Dr.  Ralph  Brownrigg, 
Master  of  Catherine  Hall,  Cambridge,  to  Hall's  vacant 
bishopric  of  Exeter  (March  31,1642),  and  that  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Westfield,  Archdeacon  of  St.  Albans,  to  the  bishopric 
of  Bristol  in  succession  to  Skinner  (June  26).  Against 
these  appointments  the  Parliament  seem  not  to  have  cared 
to  make  any  protest.  They  were  satisfied,  in  the  inean- 
time,  with  that  blow  against  Episcopacy,  by  the  Bishops 
Exclusion  Bill,  which  had  rendered  Bishops  comparatively 
unimportant  personages  in  the  realm. 

It  was  different,  however,  when  the  chance  of  the  King's 
creating  new  lay-peers  came  to  be  considered.  In  contempla- 
tion of  such  an  exercise  of  the  King's  power,  the  Lords  passed 
(May  14)  a  Bill  to  restrain  any  new  peers  that  the  King 
illicit  create  in  existing  circumstances  from  sitting  in  their 
House :  six  Lords  dissenting.2  Then,  again,  when  the  King 
proposed,  by  way  of  threat,  to  go  into  Ireland  and  assume 
the  command  against  the  Rebels  there,  Parliament  pronounced 
its  veto  on  any  such  step.  And  so  backwards  and  forwards, 

break  of   the  war.      This    is   in   fart  of  real  interest  for  »« in  that  period  of 

a  VMt  pamohlot,  written  with  all  (.'In-  mere  negotiation  and  claUrat. 

rondon  M  skill,  to  secure  the  nympathioa  pleading  are  few. 
of    hw   rondure    for    thu    King*    ride  i  o^  „„,»  __   ««vt  «on 

throughout  the  sequel.     It  i.  ama-terly  See  a««,  pp.  324,  826. 

pamphlet  for  iU  purpose  ;  but  the  fact*          *  Lord*  Journal*, 


412  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

move  and  countermove,  in  a  great  variety  of  particulars.  The 
most  resolute  action  of  each  party  was  always  when  the  other 
issued  an  order  of  a  military  kind,  or  attempted  to  gain 
military  strength.  The  King,  with  a  body  of  horse,  having 
tried  to  get  admittance  into  Hull,  where  there  was  a  large 
magazine  of  arms  and  ammunition,  and  having  proclaimed 
the  governor,  Sir  John  Hotham,  a  traitor  for  refusing  him 
admission  (April  23),  Parliament  instantly  approved  of 
Hotham's  firmness,  and  had  the  arms  and  ammunition  brought 
to  London.  The  King  doing  his  best  to  secure  the  Yorkshire 
gentry  to  his  side,  and  even  forbidding  them  to  obey  any 
summons  of  Parliament,  the  Parliament  sent  commissioners 
into  Yorkshire.1  The  Parliament,  on  the  other  hand,  having 
issued  orders  that  their  Militia  Ordinance  of  the  previous 
February  should  be  carried  out  in  counties,  the  King  declared 
the  action  illegal.  The  King,  again,  meditating  a  proclama- 
tion for  the  removal  of  the  "  Term  "  or  Law-Courts  to  York, 
the  Parliament  declared  this  illegal.  It  is  impossible,  in  all 
this,  not  to  notice  the  superior  vigilance  of  the  Parliament, 
prompted  by  their  conviction  that  war  was  coming.  This  is 
the  explanation  of  several  very  severe  proceedings  of  theirs 
in  the  months  of  April,  May,  and  June.  They  suppressed, 
for  example,  a  pro-Episcopacy  agitation  in  Kent,  got  up  by 
Sir  Edward  Deering  since  his  ejection  from  the  Commons 
(Feb.  2)  for  a  breach  of  privilege  in  publishing  his  speeches  ; 
and  they  impeached  Lord  Mayor  Gurney,  so  as  to  get  him 
out  of  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  city  and  secure  that  import- 
ant post  for  the  trusty  Alderman  Pennington.  Where  public 
necessity  did  not  oblige  severity,  they  were  lenient  enough. 
Thus,  on  the  petition  of  the  twelve  imprisoned  Bishops,  they 
were  released  and  allowed  to  go  at  large  upon  bail  (May  5). 
In  the  case  of  Williams  there  was  the  farther  condition 
that  he  should  not  go  to  his  northern  Archbishopric  while 
the  King  was  there. 

The  phenomenon  of  most  significance  through  all  this  was 
the  gradual  polarization  of  all  the  conspicuous  Eoyalists,  atom 
by  atom  or  in  twos  and  threes  at  a  time,  towards  the  King 

i  Parl.  Hist.  II.  1222. 


l»Jrj.]  DRIFTING  INTO  WAR  :    CHOOSING  OF  SIDES.  413 

at  York.  When  the  King  had  gone  to  York  there  were  with 
him,  or  near  him,  not  only  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke 
of  York  (the  younger  children  were  still  at  Whitehall  or 
Windsor),  but  also  a  few  of  his  leading  lords  and  counsellors, 
such  as  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  the  Marquis  of  Hertford,  the 
Earl  of  Newcastle,  and  Mr.  Secretary  Nicholas.  These,  with 
the  northern  lords  and  gentry  that  flocked  in,  formed  a  toler- 
able semblance  of  a  Court.  But  it  only  waited  the  King's 
bidding  to  swell  this  Court  by  accessions  from  Parliament 
itself,  and  from  the  whole  south  of  England.  For  a  while  it 
was  thought  best  that  most  of  the  King's  friends  in  Parlia- 
ment should  remain  in  their  places.  The  King's  first  orders 
to  join  him  were  addressed,  therefore,  rather  to  those  peers 
of  his  Council  of  whose  attachment  to  him  he  was  least  sure. 
The  Earls  of  Essex,  Holland,  and  Salisbury,  and  Lord  Savile, 
were  first  summoned  ;  and,  on  their  refusing  to  comply,  Essex 
was  required  to  resign  his  office  of  Lord  Chamberlain,  and 
Holland  his  various  offices.  Another  experiment  in  which 
Charles  was  more  successful  was  in  the  case  of  the  Lord 
Keeper  Littleton.  Dissatisfied  with  some  parts  of  this  peer's 
recent  conduct,  the  King  had  some  intention  of  taking  the 
Great  Seal  from  him.  But  Hyde,  knowing  Littleton  better, 
reasoned  with  his  Majesty  in  private  letters,  and  undertook 
that  Littleton  would  be  found  loyal.  Accordingly,  after  some 
conferences  between  Hyde  and  Littleton,  the  great  seal  was 
sent  by  sure  hands  to  York,  and  Littleton  himself  took  the 
desperate  step  of  following  in  person.  He  chose  the  interval 
between  a  Saturday  and  a  Monday  (May  21 — 23)  for  his 
flight.  Hyde  himself,  who  had  hitherto  stayed  on,  with  his 
friends  Falkland  and  Colepepper,  that  they  three  might 
watch  the  King's  interest  in  the  Commons,  did  not  dare 
to  remain  in  London  after  the  Lord  Keeper.  His  close 
correspondence  with  the  King  was  already  more  than  sus- 
pected, he  says,  and  his  connexion  with  the  Lord  Keeper's 
flight  cuuld  not  be  concealed.  So,  actually  before  the  Lord 
Keeper  had  set  out,  Hyde  was  half-way  to  York  by  a  different 
route.  He  stayed  first  near  Oxford,  where  he  picked  up  his 
fri.-nd  Mr.  Chillingworth.  Tin-  two  went  tin-nee  by  byu-rouds 


414  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

to  Lutterworth  in  Leicestershire,  where  they  rested  a  night 
with  a  friend  of  Mr.  Chillingworth,  "  who  was  parson  of  the 
parish/'^no  other,  in  fact,  than  our  old  friend  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Tovey,  Milton's  second  tutor  at  Cambridge.  Setting  out 
from  Tovey's,  the  two  reached  York  almost  as  soon  as  the 
Lord  Keeper.  But  it  was  the  Lord  Keeper's  flight,  with 
the  removal  of  the  great  seal  and  the  vacating  of  the  wool- 
sack in  the  House  of  Lords,  that  caused  the  most  profound 
sensation  in  London.  Spreading  a  kind  of  awe  among  the 
weaker-minded  even  of  the  Parliamentarian  party,  it  became 
for  the  King's  friends  generally  the  signal  that  they  too 
should  be  gone.  Accordingly,  Falkland  and  Colepepper  soon 
followed  Hyde,  and  the  ranks  of  Parliament  became  day  by 
day  thinner. 

Some  curious  statistics,  showing  the  gradual  shedding-off 
of  the  members  of  both  Houses  from  their  places  in  Parlia- 
ment as  the  moment  of  Civil  War  approached,  are  to  be  culled 
from  the  Lords  and  Commons  Journals. —  —In  the  Peers  the 
diminution  of  attendance  was  most  rapid.  Thus,  on  a  call  of 
that  House  on  the  21st  of  April,  sixty-one  peers  were  found 
to  be  absent.  On  that  occasion,  however,  some  of  the  most 
earnest  of  the  Parliamentarians  were  among  the  absentees, 
being  away  on  Parliament  business.  Before  the  end  of  the 
following  month,  however,  the  Lord  Keeper's  flight  having 
occasioned  a  more  exact  census,  it  was  found  that  thirty-two 
peers  were  with  the  King  at  York  ;  which,  as  there  were  also 
thirteen  absentees  from  reasons  of  old  age,  minority,  &c.,  and 
as  other  peers  were  non-effective  as  being  Eoman  Catholics 
or  in  foreign  parts,  left  only  forty-two  peers  then  in  effective 
attendance.  Messages  were  sent  after  the  runaways  to  York, 
and  especially  after  nine  of  them,  who  were  summoned  to 
return  as  delinquents.  All  to  no  effect.  Even  the  ranks 
of  the  effective  residue, — who,  having  no  Lord  Keeper  among 
them,  had  now  to  appoint  a  Speaker  from  day  to  day, — were 
gradually  thinned  by  fresh  secessions,  till,  before  the  end  of 

June,  it  was  a  full  House  if  thirty  were  present. And  so, 

with  some  differences,  in  the  Commons.  In  that  House  the 
divisions  through  the  months  of  April  and  May  show  an 


1642.]  DRIFTING  INTO  WAR:    CHOOSING  OF  SIDES.  415 

average  attendance  of  about  200  or  somewhat  less.  This  was 
not  a  large  number  in  proportion  to  the  whole ;  but  it  was  as 
large  as  there  had  perhaps  generally  been  since  Parliament 
had  first  settled  to  its  work  and  the  ornamentals  had  dropped 
off.  Not  very  many  of  the  absentees  were  yet  with  the  King 
at  York  ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  not  till  the  end  of  May 
that  even  Hyde,  Falkland, and  Colepepper  went  thither.  Their 
departure,  and  the  knowledge  that  the  King  by  private  letters 
was  inviting  others  of  the  Commons  to  follow  them,  led  to  an 
order  of  the  House  that  all  members  should  be  punctually  in 
their  places  on  the  16th  of  June,  under  a  penalty  of  100/. 
each,  to  go  to  the  fund  for  Ireland.  This  whip  had  interesting 
results.  On  the  appointed  day,  forty-five  members  were 
marked  as  absent,  all  of  whom  had  presumably  gone  to  the 
Kinjj.  Among  them,  besides  Hyde,  Falkland,  and  Colepepper, 
we  may  note  Sir  Ralph  Hopton,  Sir  John  Pakington,  Mr. 
Endymion  Porter,  Mr.  John  Ashburnham,  and  Mr.  Philip  War- 
wick. Either  in  this  list  there  were  not  counted  the  absent 
members  who  had  valid  excuses,  or  else  a  large  number  must 
have  come  into  the  House  for  form's  sake  and  gone  off  imme- 
diately after  the  roll  was  called ;  for,  in  three  divisions  which 
occurred  on  that  day,  all  on  this  very  business  of  the  absentees, 
the  numbers  were  142  against  122,  147  against  91,  and  100 
against  79.  This  would  show  the  maximum  of  effective  or 
voting  attendance  that  day  to  have  been  264  ;  which,  if  added 
to  the  45  culpable  absentees,  would  account  for  only  305 
members  out  of  an  original  House  of  500.  But,  except  on 
very  great  occasions,  about  300  had  always  been  thought  a 
full  House,  so  that,  in  the  middle  of  June,  the  secession  was 
not  so  large  as  might  have  been  expected.  The  loss,  however, 
probably  increased  as  June  passed  into  July,  for  in  this  latter 
month  the  divisions  show  most  frequently  an  attendance  of  but 
a  hundred  or  little  more.  By  that  time,  however,  the  most 
zealous  Parliamentarians  had  work  out  of  I 'ail  lament,  and 
may  have  been  coming  and  going  between  town  and  country. 
Tin-  largest  vote  I  have  found  in  the  Commons  after  Jinn-  is 
on  Saturday  tin-  !>tli  of. Inly;  on  which  day,  on  a  proposition 
for  raising  10,000  Volunteers  for  the  country's  defence  (i.e,  for 


416  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  Parliament  in  the  approaching  Civil  War),  there  divided 
Teas  12 5  against  Noes  45.  There  were  thus  170  present. 
The  Tellers  for  the  Yeas  were  Mr.  Denzil  Holies  and  Sir  John 
Evelyn,  for  the  Noes  Sir  John  Strange  ways  and  Mr.  Selden. 
What  strikes  one  perhaps  most,  in  looking  over  the  Commons 
Journals  at  this  time,  is  the  frequency  with  which  Cromwell's 
name  appears.  The  member  for  Cambridge  was  now  a  man 
much  looked  to.1 

Which  way  was  Scotland  to  go  ?  This  was  a  question  of 
some  concern  ;  and  we  see  both  King  and  Parliament  bidding 
for  the  help  of  the  little  kingdom.  On  the  King's  side,  there 
was  the  plea  that  he  had  given  the  Scots,  at  all  events,  all 
they  wanted,  and  left  them,  at  his  recent  visit,  comfortable  in 
the  enjoyment  of  their  Presbyterianism  and  of  a  Government 
to  match.  Were  they  not  bound  then  to  the  King  by  grati- 
tude ?  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  the  plea  of  the  good 
understanding  that  had  recently  existed  between  the  English 
Parliament  and  the  Scottish  Covenanters,  the  many  mutual 
tokens  of  respect  that  had  passed  between  them,  and  the 
real  service  that  the  Parliament  had  done  the  Scots  in 
securing  them  the  fruits  of  their  Revolution.  Were  the 
Scots  to  forget  all  this  ?  Moreover,  what  was  the  English 
Parliament  struggling  for  but  the  overthrow  in  England  of 
that  system  of  Prelacy  which  had  been  overthrown  in  Scot- 
land ?  Would  the  Scots  refuse  their  sympathy  in  the  struggle, 
and  so  abandon  that  idea  for  which  they  had  so  often  argued 
on  paper,  and  which  had  gained  so  much  ground  among  the 
English  already,  the  idea  of  a  uniformity  of  Religion  and 
Church  Discipline  between  the  two  kingdoms  ? 

Since  the  King's  visit,  there  had  been  no  meeting  of  the 
Scottish  Parliament  to  express  the  national  opinion.  This, 
however,  mattered  the  less  because  the  Scottish  Privy  Council, 
with  Lord  Chancellor  Loudoun  as  its  nominal  head,  but  with 
the  Marquis  of  Argyle  and  Sir  Archibald  Johnstone  of 

1  Authorities  for  statements  in  this  1212,    1270-74,    1296-7,    1365-6,    1373, 

and  the  preceding  paragraph  are  Cla-  1409  ;    and   the   Lords  and    Commons 

rendon  (Hist.  p.  227  et  seq.,  and  Life,  Journals   over   the   time   and   for  the 

p.    948  et  seq.);    Parl.  Hist.  II.  1172,  days  referred  to. 


1642.]  TENDENCY  OF  THE  SCOTS.  417 

Warriston  as  the  leading  spirits,  had  been  able  to  keep  t lu- 
nation in  the  straight  course.  It  had  not  been  an  easy  task. 
With  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  Scots,  there  had  come,  as 
usual,  personal  jealousies  among  the  leading  nobles,  and 
numerous  little  questions  of  animosity  among  the  clergy 
and  the  town -councils.  Then  there  were  the  schemes  of 
Montrose,  Napier,  and  the  other  malcontents.  Nevertheless, 
and  chiefly  through  the  care  of  Argyle,  the  policy  of  the 
Scottish  Government  had  been  all  along  one  of  friendship 
with  the  English  Parliament.  Commissioners  had  been  sent 
up  to  London  on  the  business  of  the  Irish  Rebellion ;  and  these 
Commissioners, — among  whom  were  the  Earls  of  Lothian  and 
Lindsay,  and  Sir  Archibald  Johnstone, — had  become  organs 
of  communication  with  the  English  Parliament  on  affairs 
in  general.  Through  them,  as  early  as  January  1641-2,  the 
Scottish  Privy  Council  had  offered  to  mediate  between  the 
King  and  the  Parliament ;  and,  these  offers  failing,  the  Scottish 
Privy  Council  had  joined  with  the  Parliament  in  opposing  the 
King's  proposal  to  go  to  Ireland  in  person,  and  had  helped  the 
Parliament  through  their  immediate  Irish  difficulty  by  lending 
thema  force  of  6,000  Scots, under  Leslie's  subordinate, General 
Monro.  For  these  and  other  services  the  Parliament  had 
thanked  the  Scottish  Council  in  most  cordial  letters.  But,  the 
K  iii'_r  remonstrating,  Loudoun  himself  had  gone  to  York  to  con- 
tinue the  so-called  mediation.  This  not  being  what  was  wanted, 
he  had  been  sent  back  into  Scotland  to  call  a  special  meeting 
of  I'rivy  Council  for  the  25th  of  May.  In  order  that  a 
great  effort  might  be  made  at  this  meeting  to  win  a  decision 
for  the  King,  the  Earls  of  Roxburgh  and  Kinnoull,  and  other 
Royalists  of  the  Scottish  Privy  Council  then  in  England,  were 
sent  down  to  gather  adherents  and  attend  the  meeting  in  force. 
Johnstone  of  Warriston,  however,  who  was  thoroughly  in 
the  confidence  of  the  English  Parliament,  came  express  from 
London  to  counteract  these  "  Banders  "  ;  and  this  he  did  so 
effectually  that,  though  the  "  Banders"  made  a  great  show  at 
the  mooting,  tln-y  could  accomplish  nothing.  The  Duke  of 
Ha  mil  ton  afterwards  came  to  Scotland,  apparently  as  agent 
for  the  King,  but  really,  as  those  who  knew  him  best  supposed, 

VOL.  II  2  E 


418  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

to  "  eschew  drowning  "  in  the  meeting  of  two  contrary  tides. 
In  short,  all  that  Charles  could  at  this  time  extract  out  of  Scot- 
land for  his  help  against  the  Parliament  was  the  contribution 
of  a  few  valuable  volunteer  recruits  in  the  shape  of  trained 
army-men  fit  to  be  officers.  Among  them  was  Colonel  Sir 
John  Cochrane,  brother  of  Sir  William  Cochrane  of  Cowdon, 
the  ancestor  of  the  Dundonald  family. 

Even  had  the  Scottish  Privy  Council  refused  the  policy  of 
sympathy  with  the  English  Parliament  urged  by  Argyle  and 
Johnstons  of  Warriston,  the  temper  of  the  Scottish  people 
would  have  compelled  such  a  policy.  It  was  the  flocking 
to  Edinburgh  of  crowds  from  Fife  and  the  Lothians  on  the 
day  of  the  Privy  Council  meeting  that  had  protected  Argyle 
and  Johns  tone,  and  prevented  the  "  Banders  "  from  resorting 
to  force.  And  the  same  enthusiasm  for  the  Parliamentary 
cause  in  England  was  exhibited  as  strikingly  and  more 
formally  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk,  which  met 
at  St.  Andrews  on  the  27th  of  July  and  sat  till  the  6th  of 
August.  In  those  ten  days'  sittings  of  the  Assembly  there 
were  present  not  only  the  representatives  of  the  clergy  from 
all  the  shires,  but  also,  as  lay-elders,  such  noblemen  and 
Privy  Councillors  as  Argyle,  the  Earls  of  Eglinton,  Cassilis, 
Glencairn,  Lauderdale,  and  Wemyss,  Lords  Balcarres,  Elcho, 
Burleigh,  Sinclair,  and  Maitland,  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston. 
Not  members  of  Assembly,  but  in  attendance  on  his  Majesty's 
Commissioner,  the  Earl  of  Dunfermline,  who  sat  enthroned 
in  it  to  represent  Eoyalty,  were  the  Lord  Chancellor  Loudoun, 
the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  the  Earls  of  Morton  and  Southesk, 
Lord  Tester,  and  others.  The  Moderator,  or  president, 
was  Mr.  Eobert  Douglas,  minister  of  Kirkcaldy.  But  the 
chief  man  in  the  Assembly,  now  as  before,  was,  of  course, 
Alexander  Henderson. 

A  weariness  had  begun  of  late  to  creep  over  this  most 
powerful  man  in  the  Scottish  Israel.  It  was  partly  from 
advancing  age  and  incessant  work,  but  partly  also  from 
fatigue  with  the  pettiness  and  impatience  of  the  men  around 
him.  Since  the  last  Assembly  he  had  been  occupied,  as  much 
as  his  parish-work  and  other  distractions  would  permit,  in 


1642. J  TENDENCY  OF  THE  SCOTS.  419 

considering  the  great  business,  committed  to  him  by  that 
Assembly,1  of  preparing  a  Confession  of  Faith,  a  Catechism, 
a  Directory  for  Worship,  and  a  Form  of  Church  Government, 
such  as,  while  they  suited  Scotland  and  agreed  with  her 
recent  Presbyterian  Revolution,  might  be  offered,  with  some 
prospect  of  acceptance,  to  England.  But,  the  more  he  had 
i  bought  of  the  work,  the  more  he  had  doubted  his  strength. 
This  appears,  very  creditably,  in  a  letter  of  his  to  Baillie, 
dated  "Edinburgh,  April  20,  1642."  Baillie  had  sent  Hen- 
derson, for  his  approval,  the  manuscript  of  a  little  work 
he  meant  to  publish  against  Browuism,  or  Independency,  and 
at  the  same  time  had  asked  Henderson  how  he  was  advanc- 
ing in  his  great  labour.  Henderson,  in  his  letter,  advises 
Baillie  to  keep  his  little  work  back  for  some  time,  "  because 
much  more  is  lately  come  to  light  on  both  sides  in  Holland 
and  England  "  than  had  yet  found  its  way  to  Scotland.  Then, 
with  reference  to  his  own  great  labour,  he  says,  "  Although 
"  neither  time  nor  weakness  had  hindered,  I  cannot  think  it 
"  expedient  that  any  such  thing,  whether  Confession  of  Faith, 
"  Direction  for  Worship,  Form  of  Government,  or  Catechism 
"  less  or  more,  should  be  agreed  upon  and  authorised  by  our 
"  Kirk  till  we  see  what  the  Lord  will  do  in  England  and 
"  Ireland,  where  I  still  wait  for  a  Reformation  and  uniformity 
"  with  us  ;  but  this  must  be  brought  to  pass  by  common  con- 
"  sent,  and  we  are  not  to  conceive  that  they  will  embrace  our 
"  Form,  but  a  new  Form  must  be  set  down  for  us  all,  and  in 
"  my  opinion  some  men  set  apart  some  time  for  that  work  ; 
"  and,  although  we  should  never  come  to  this  unity  in 
"  religion  and  uniformity  in  worship,  yet  rny  desire  is  to  see 
"  what  Form  England  will  pitch  upon  before  we  publish 
"  ours."  In  other  words,  Henderson's  broad  judgment  had 
begun  to  be  aware  of  elements  in  the  English  mind  that 
would  probably  not  brook  the  control  of  any  mere  Scottish 
form  of  Church  discipline,  nor  stay  within  its  limits. 

It  was  in  this  temper,  <•!'  hopeful  interest  in  what  was 
tfniiiLr  "»»  in  Kir-ilaml,  and  desire  to  see  the  English  Parliament 
advancing  freely  in  its  own  career  of  Church  Reformation, 

'  See  an#,  p.  290. 


420  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

that  Henderson  had  come  to  the  'St.  Andrews  General 
Assembly.  In  that  Assembly,  amid  smaller  and  more  local 
business,  including  "  an  Act  for  restraining  Witchcraft," 
the  great  business  of  the  strife  between  the  King  and  the 
English  Parliament  naturally  came  up.  It  was,  indeed, formally 
forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  Assembly  by  his  Majesty's 
Letter  of  date  July  23,  presented  by  the  Commissioner  on 
opening  the  Assembly,  as  well  as  by  a  Declaration  addressed 
to  the  Assembly  by  the  English  Parliament,  arid  by  a  Letter  to 
the  Assembly,  dated  "London,  July  22,"  from  "some  ministers 
in  England  "  (viz.  the  Smectymnuans  and  their  adherents), 
acknowledging  past  favours,  and  reiterating  their  conviction 
that  it  was  the  desire  of  "  the  most  godly  and  considerable 
part "  of  the  English  ministers  and  people  that  Presby- 
terian Government  should  be  established  in  England.  Vain 
efforts  were  made  by  the  King's  Commissioner  and  his 
assessors  to  extract  from  the  Assembly  some  opinion  dis- 
tinctly in  favour  of  the  King.  On  the  contrary,  in  a  suppli- 
cation (Aug.  3)  to  his  Majesty,  by  way  of  answer  to  his 
Majesty's  letter,  the  Assembly  venture  to  remind  him  of 
his  former  promises  for  the  furtherance  of  a  uniformity  of 
Keligion  and  Church  government  between  the  two  kingdoms. 
In  a  letter  of  the  same  date  to  the  English  Parliament, 
drawn  up  by  Henderson,  the  Assembly,  though  still  speaking 
cautiously,  intimated  clearly  enough  on  which  side  their 
sympathies  lay.  "  What  hope  can  there  be,"  they  write,  "  of 
"  unity  of  religion,  of  one  Confession  of  Faith,  one  Form  of 
"  Worship,  and  one  Catechism,  till  there  be  first  one  Form  of 
"  Ecclesiastical  Government  ?  Yea,  what  hope  can  the  King- 
"  dom  and  Kirk  of  Scotland  have  of  a  firm  and  durable 
"  peace,  till  Prelacy,  which  hath  been  the  main  cause  of 
"  their  miseries  and  troubles,  first  and  last,  be  plucked  up, 
"  root  and  branch,  as  a  plant  which  God  hath  not  planted, 
"  and  from  which  no  better  fruit  can  be  expected  than 
"  such  sour  grapes  as  this  day  set  on  edge  the  kingdom  of 
"England?"1 

i  Baillie,  II.  1—56  ;  and  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  : 
Assembly  of  1642. 


1642.]  A1!MIN<;  ON  BOTH  SIDES.  421 

% 

While  the  Scottish  Assembly  so  wrote,  the  sword  was 
ulivudv  half  nut  of  the  scabbard  in  England.  As  early  as  June 
2  a  ship  had  arrived  on  the  North -Knijlish  coast,  bringing  the 
King  arms  and  ammunition  from  Holland,  purchased  by  the 
sale  of  the  crown-jewels  which  the  Queen  had  taken  abroad. 
On  the  22nd  of  the  same  month  more  than  forty  of  the  nobles 
and  others  in  attendance  on  the  King  at  York  had  put  down 
their  names  for  the  numbers  of  armed  horse  they  would 
furnish  respectively  for  his  service.1  Requisitions  in  the 
King's  name  were  also  out  for  supplies  of  money ;  and  the 
two  Universities,  and  the  Colleges  in  each,  were  invited  to 
send  in  their  plate.2  On  the  other  hand,  the  Parliament  had 
not  been  more  negligent.  There  had  been  contributions  or 
promises  from  all  the  chief  Parliamentarian  nobles  and 
others ;  there  was  a  large  loan  from  the  City ;  and  hundreds 
of  thousands,  on  a  smaller  scale,  were  willing  to  subscribe. 
And  already,  through  all  the  shires,  the  two  opposed  powers 
were  grappling  and  jostling  with  each  other  in  raising  levies. 
On  the  King's  side  there  were  what  were  called  Commissions 
of  Array,  or  powers  granted  to  certain  nobles  and  others  by 
name  to  raise  troops  for  the  King.  On  the  side  of  Parlia- 
ment, in  addition  to  the  Volunteering  which  had  been  going 
on  in  many  places  (as,  for  example,  in  Cambridgeshire,  where 
Oliver  Cromwell  was  forming  a  troop  of  Volunteer  horse,  and 
in  Suffolk,  where  I  find  a  Mr.  John  Bright  conspicuously  busy 
in  the  same  kind  of  work),3  there  was  the  Militia  Ordinance, 

1  MS.  list  in  tho  State  Paper  Office  of  "which  wo  promise  to  satisfy  again. 

date  Juno  22,'1642.     About  2, 000 horse  "Givon  at  our  Court  at  Bevorley,  tho 

in  all  are  subscribed  on  that  day,  to  "28th  of  July,   1642."     There  must 

serve  three  months.     At  tho  head  of  have  been  many  such  loans, 

tho  list  is  tho  Prince  of  Wales,  for  200  »  Lords  Journals,  July  23, 1642.    But 

horse ;   the  Duke  of  Richmond,  Lord  many  names  of   active  promoters  of 

Coventry,   and   Lord   Capol   subscribe  Volunteering  for  Parliament  may  be 

100  each  ;  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  the  picked  out  of  the  Lords  and  Commons 

Muniuis  of  Hertford,  tho  Earl  of  Dorset,  Journals  from  July  6  onwards.     In  tho 

the  Earl  of  Devonshire,  and  tho  Earl  of  State  Paper  Office  I  found  a  letter  of 

Bristol,  60  each  ;  under  whom  come  tho  date  Aug.  16,  1642,  from  a  Nohomiah 

rest,  for  50,  40,  30,  or  20  each.     Falk-  Wharton  to  his   "  worthy  and  much 

land  and  Colepopper  subscribe  20  each,  honoured  friend  Mr.  Oaoigfj  Willin^- 

The  lowest  is  Lord  Grey  of  Kuthen,  ham,  marchant,  at  tho  Golden  Anchor 

wh.,  -iibticribes  10  horse  only.  in  St.  Swithin's  Lano,"  in  which  Whar- 

1 1  -  TO,  from  tho  State  Pajwr  Office,  is  ton,  then  going  about  with  Parliamen- 

an  interesting  record  of  one  loan  to  tho  tarian  recruits  in  tho  noighlnnirhood  of 

* '  Charles  R.     We  have  received  Uxbridge,  gives  some  curious  details  of 

i^o  Jones,  Esq.,  surveyor  of  our  tho  conduct  of  those  recruit*.      Thoir 

44  works,  fiOO  pounds  sterling  in  pieces,  Colonel,  ho  says,  is  "a  God-damn-mo 


422  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

available  wherever  the  persons  named  in  that  ordinance  were 
really  zealous  for  Parliament  and  able  to  act  personally  in  the 
districts  assigned  them.  And  so  on  the  12th  of  July  the 
Parliament  had  passed  the  necessary  vote  for  supplying  an 
Army,  and  had  appointed  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  be  its  com- 
mander-in-chief,  and  the  Earl  of  Bedford  to  be  its  second  in 
command  as  general  of  horse.  It  was  known,  on  the  other 
side,  that  the  Earl  of  Lindsey,  in  consideration  of  his  past 
experience  of  service  both  on  sea  and  land,  was  to  have  the 
command  of  the  King's  army,  and  that  his  master  of  horse 
was  to  be  the  King's  nephew,  young  Prince  Rupert,  who  was 
expected  from  the  Continent  on  purpose. 

Despite  all  these  preparations,  however,  it  was  probably 
not  till  August  had  begun  that  the  certainty  of  Civil  War 
was  universally  acknowledged.  It  was  on  the  9th  of  that 
month  that  the  King  issued  his  proclamation  "  for  sup- 
pressing the  present  Rebellion  under  the  command  of  Robert, 
Earl  of  Essex,"  offering  pardon  to  him  and  others  if  within 
six  days  they  made  their  submission.  The  Parliamentary 
answer  to  this  was  on  the  llth  ;  on  which  day  the  Commons 
resolved,  each  man  separately  rising  in  his  place  and  giving 
his  word,  that  they  would  stand  by  the  Earl  of  Essex  with 
their  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  end.  Still,  even  after  that, 
there  were  trembling  souls  here  and  there  who  hoped  for 
a  reconciliation.  Monday  the  22nd  of  August  put  an  end 
to  all  such  fluttering : — On  that  day,  the  King,  who  had 
meanwhile  left  York,  and  come  about  a  hundred  miles  farther 
south,  into  the  very  heart  of  England,  was  known  to  be 
moving  about  between  Coventry  and  Leicester,  not  without 
the  expectation  of  a  conflict  between  the  force  of  some  2,000 
horse  and  foot  who  were  then  with  him  and  the  Parliamen- 
tarian troops  who  had  been  gathered  to  prevent  his  threatened 
seizure  of  Coventry.  But,  late  in  the  day,  after  dining  at 

blade,"  and  ought  to  be  removed  ;  but  "rails  being  gone,  we  got  the  surplice 

the  soldiers  are  sufficiently  Anti-Prela-  "to  make  us  handkerchers,  and  one  of 

tical,  for  they  go  to  Papists'  houses  to  "  the  soldiers  wore  it  to  Uxbridge.   This 

demand  loaves,  and  they  tear  down  the  "day,  the  rails  of  Uxbridge,  formerly 

rails  in  churches.    ' '  Thursday, "  he  says,  ' '  removed,  were,  with  the  Service-Book, 

'•'I  marched  to  Uxbridge,  and,  at  Hill-  "burned:    this  evening  Mr.  Harding 

"ingdon,  one  mile  from  Uxbridge,  the  "gave  a  worthy  sermon." 


Aug.  1642.]  RAISING  OF  THE  KING'S  STANDARD.  423 

Leicester,  he  made  a  backward  movement  as  far  as  to  the 
town  of  Nottingham,  where  preparations  had  been  made  for 
the  great  scene  that  was  to  follow.  With  the  King  there 
were  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  Prince  Kupert,  together  with 
such  lords  and  gentlemen  as  he  had  chosen  to  keep  round 
him  for  the  occasion.  Among  these  was  Sir  Edmund  Verney, 
Knight  Marshal  of  England  and  hereditary  royal  standard- 
bearer.  This  gentleman's  position,  in  consideration  of  the  part 
he  had  to  perform,  is  worth  describing.  "  My  condition,"  he 
had  recently  said  to  Mr.  Hyde  in  a  private  conversation,  "  is 
"  much  worse  than  yours,  and  different,  I  believe,  from  any 
"  other  man's,  and  will  very  well  justify  the  melancholy  that, 
"  I  confess  to  you,  possesses  me.  You  have  satisfaction  in 
"  your  conscience  that  you  are  in  the  right,  that  the  King 
"  ought  not  to  grant  what  is  required  of  him  ;  and  so  you  do 
"  your  duty  and  business  together :  but,  for  my  part,  I  do  not 
"  like  the  quarrel,  and  do  heartily  wish  that  the  King  would 
"  yield,  and  consent  to  what  they  desire,  so  that  my  conscience 
"  is  only  concerned  in  honour  and  in  gratitude  to  follow  my 
"  master.  I  have  eaten  his  bread  and  served  him  near 
"  thirty  years,  and  will  not  do  so  base  a  thing  as  to  forsake 
"  him,  and  choose  rather  to  lose  my  life  (which  I  am  sure  I 
"  shall  do)  to  preserve  and  defend  those  things  which  are 
"  against  my  conscience  to  preserve  and  defend  ;  for, — I  will 
"  deal  freely  with  you, — I  have  no  reverence  for  the  Bishops, 
"  for  whom  this  quarrel  subsists."  It  was  on  this  gentleman, 
in  virtue  of  his  office,  that  the  chief  duty  devolved  in  the 
ceremony  that  was  now  enacted  at  Nottingham.  This  con- 
sist, d  in  bringing  out  the  royal  standard  and  setting  it  up  in 
due  form.  It  was  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  it 
was  done,  the  spot  being  the  top  of  the  Castle-hill,  or  a  field 
close  ut  the  back  of  the  old  Castle.  When  Sir  Edmund 
Verney  and  his  assistants  had  done  their  work,  and  the  great 
standard  was  streaming  out,  with  a  special  flag  attached, 
bearing  the  King's  arms  quartered  and  the  emblem  of  a  hand 
pointing  to  a  crown,  interpreted  by  the  motto  "Give  Caesar 
his  due,"  then,  the  King,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Prince  Rupert, 
and  all  tin-  train,  standing  close  round,  and  the  horse  and  foot 


424 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


near,  a  Herald  read  a  proclamation,  declaring  the  cause  why 
the  standard  had  been  set  up,  and  summoning  all  the  lieges 
to  assist  his  Majesty.  Those  who  were  present  cheered  and 
threw  up  their  hats ;  and,  with  a  beating  of  drums  and  a 
sounding  of  trumpets,  the  ceremony  ended.  During  the 
night,  it  was  afterwards  said,  the  standard  was  blown  down 
by  a  violent  tempest  of  wind,  and  it  could  not  be  set  right 
again  for  several  days.  Nevertheless  from  that  evening  of 
the  22nd  of  August  1642,  the  Civil  War  had  begun.1 


i  Clar.  Hist.  288,  289,  and  Life,  954  ; 
Rushworth,  IV.  183, 184  ;  Whitlocke,  I. 
179  ;  Parl.  Hist.  II.  1456-1458  ;  Rapin, 
II.  457-459. — It  is  strange  that,  in  so 
remarkable  an  affair  as  the  setting  up 
of  the  King's  standard,  there  should 
be  such  a  contrariety  of  accounts. 
Rushworth  makes  August  22  the  day, 
in  which  he  is  confirmed  by  Whit- 
locke and  other  unexceptionable  autho- 
rities ;  Clarendon  distinctly  makes  it 
the  25th.  Rushworth  makes  the  place 
of  the  ceremony  ' '  a  field  a  little  on  the 
back  of  the  castle  wall "  ;  Clarendon 
makes  it  "the  top  of  the  castle  hill." 
Clarendon  introduces  Sir  Edmund 
Verney  as  the  principal  figure  ;  Rush- 
worth,  though  mentioning  some  of 
the  "knights-bannerets"  who  bore  the 
standard,  does  not  name  Verney.  Rush- 
worth  makes  the  affair  one  of  great 
deliberation  and  state,  after  previous 
appointment  and  lodging  of  the  stan- 
dard in  Nottingham  Castle  for  the 
purpose  ;  Clarendon  represents  it  as 


hurried.  Clarendon  says  the  King 
had  very  few  with  him,  ' '  not  one  regi- 
ment of  foot  yet  levied  and  brought 
together,"  and  that  the  whole  affair 
had  a  melancholy  look ;  Rushworth 
distinctly  speaks  of  the  King's  train  as 
numerous,  "besides  a  great  company 
of  horse  and  foot,  in  all  to  the  number 
of  2,000."  Finally,  Rushworth  says 
nothing  of  the  windy  night  and  the 
blowing  down  of  the  standard  ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  he  says  the  standard  was 
formally  taken  down  the  same  evening 
it  was  set  up,  and  again  next  day  set  up 
and  taken  down,  and  so  the  day  after, 
the  King  each  day  being  present  as  at 
first,  till  the  third  day  inclusively, — 
after  which  there  was  less  ceremony. 
Clarendon's  account,  as  being  the  more 
picturesque,  has  been  followed  by 
Rapin  and  later  historians.  I  have  not 
the  least  doubt,  however,  that  Rush- 
worth  is  the  authority  to  be  trusted, 
both  as  to  the  day  and  as  to  other 
particulars. 


BOOK  III. 

AUGUST  1642-JULY  1643. 

HISTORY: — COMMENCEMENT  OP  THE  CIVIL  WAR:  THE  LONG 
PARLIAMENT  CONTINUED  :  MEETING  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER 
ASSEMBLY. 

BIOGRAPHY: — MILTON    STILL   IN    ALDERBGATE   STREET:     His 

MARUIAOK. 


CHAPTER    I. 

STATISTICS      OF      THE     TWO     SIDES  I      THE      TWO     ARMIES      AND      THEIR 
OFFICERS — FIRST     ACTIONS     OF    THE     WAR  :     BATTLE    OF     EDOEHILL 

AND    THE    MARCH    TO   TURNHAM    GREEN SKETCH    OF    EVENTS   TILL 

MIDSUMMER  1643. 

A  COMPLETE  narration  of  the  events  of  the  great  Civil  War  is 
not  to  be  looked  for  in  this  History.  We  shall  but  move 
on  through  the  war,  seeking  for  whatever,  in  the  midst  of 
it,  may  be  more  properly  interesting  to  ourselves,  and  only 
taking  care  to  be  cognisant  all  the  while  of  the  fury  that 
is  raging  around.  There  were,  however,  certain  preliminary 
studies  of  a  statistical  kind,  bearing  on  the  war,  which  the 
author  had  to  make  for  himself  before  he  could  proceed 
with  any  satisfaction,  or  feel  that  he  understood  his  element ; 
and  he  believes  that,  by  presenting  here  the  results  of  those 
studies,  lie  will  be  clearing  the  route  for  his  readers,  and 
perhaps  saving  trouble  to  future  writers. 

STATISTICS  OF  THE  TWO  SIDES. 

From  and  after  the  setting-up  of  the  King's  standard  at 
Nottingham  on  the  22nd  of  August  1642,  England  was  rent 
asunder  into  the  two  parties  of  the  ROYALISTS  and  the 
PARLIAMENTARIANS,  otherwise  called  CAVALIERS  and  ROUND- 
IIKADS.  All  England  was  so  divided ;  for,  whatever  masses 
•  •I  indifferency  there  may  have  been  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  at  first,  no  sooner  had  the  two  armies  begun  their 
marchings,  and  their  exactions  of  supplies,  than  these 
masses  were  effectually  drawn  into  the  strife.  In  the  course 
of  the  four  years  of  war  there  were  instances,  and  some 


428 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


very  notorious,  of  shiftings  from  the  one  side  to  the  other. 
With  all  allowance  for  these,  however,  and  also  for  the 
deaths  on  both  sides  which  remove  some  from  the  lists 
almost  as  soon  as  they  are  formed,  a  tabular  census  of  the 
two  parties,  calculated  as  exactly  as  possible  for  the  actual 
commencement  of  the  war,  will  be  more  welcome  here  to 
the  real  student  than  pages  of  flowing  description. 


We  begin  with  the  Peerage.  The  Bishops  being  no  longer 
peers,  the  English  Peerage  in  August  1642, — if  we  omit  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (cetat.  13),  the  Duke  of  York  (cetat.  9),  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester  (cetat.  2),  and  their  cousin  Prince  Eupert 
(cetat.  23,  and  not  an  English  peer  till  1644,  when  he  was 
created  Duke  of  Cumberland), — consisted  of  132  persons; 
of  whom  2  were  Dukes,  2  were  Marquises,  5  9  were  Earls, 
6  were  Viscounts,  and  63  were  Barons.  The  following  is 
the  best  classification  of  these  I  can  make  for  our  present 
purpose  : — 

I.— EOYALIST  PEERS,  EFFECTIVE.* 


Duke  of  Richmond  and  Lennox. 
Marquis  of  Hertford. 

,,      Winchester   (widower    of    that 
Marchioness  of  Winchester  on 
whose  death  in  1631  Milton 
had  written  an  elegy). 
Earl  of  Bath  (taken  prisoner  1642). 

,,      Berkshire. 

,,      Bristol. 

„  Cambridge  (i.e.  the  Scottish 
Marquis  of  Hamilton) ;  fidelity 
suspected. 

. ,  Carlisle  (went  over  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, March  1643-4). 

,,      Carnarvon  (killed  Sept.  20, 1643). 

,,  Chesterfield  (taken  prisoner, 
March  1642-3). 

,,      Cleveland. 

,,      Cumberland  (died  Dec.  1643). 

„      Denbigh  (killed  April  1643). 


Earl  of  Devonshire. 

Dorset. 

Dover. 

Huntingdon  (died  Nov.  1643). 

Kingston  (killed  July  1643). 

Leicester(leaningto  Parliament). 

Lindsey  (killed  Oct.  1642). 

Maryborough. 

Monmouth. 

Newcastle  (created  Marquis, 
Oct.  1643). 

Newport. 

Northampton  (killed  March 
1642-3). 

Peterborough.  (His  father  was 
to  have  been  Parliamentarian 
General  of  Ordnance  under 
Essex,  but  had  died  June  18, 
1642,  leaving  the  Earldom  to 
this  Royalist.) 


1  I  account  "effective"  those  whom 
I  find  with  the  King  at  York  in  May 
or  June  1642  (Clar.  Hist.  262  ;  Parl. 
Hist.  II.  1296-7  and  1374  ;  and  copy 
by  me  of  a  list  in  the  State  Paper 
Office  of  date  June  22,  1642) ;  also  those 
whom  I  find  afterwards  figuring  in  the 
King's  service  through  the  war,  and 
especially  in  his  Parliament  at  Oxford 


in  1643  (Parl.  Hist.  III.  218-19).  Three 
"Calls  of  the  House,"  with  lists  of 
absentees,  in  the  Lords  Journals  (April 
21,  1642  ;  Jan.  22,  1643-4  ;  May  24, 
1644),  have  also  been  of  assistance  ;  as 
well  as  the  list  of  Peers  who  met  in  the 
Long  Parliament  given  in  the  Parl.  Hist. , 
with  marks  indicating  the  subsequent 
career  of  each  (II.  591—597). 


1642.] 


<  IVII.  WAI;  STATISTICS:    TIIK  I'l 


429 


Earl  of  Portland. 

.,      Rivers. 

,,      Shrewsbury. 

,,      Southampton. 

,,      Th.uR-t. 

Westmoreland  (at  first  with 
tin-  King,  but  made  his  peace 
with  Parliament  1645). 

,,      Worcester     (created     Marquis, 

Nov.  1642 ;  ob.  1646). 
Viscount  Campden  (ob.  1643). 

,,      Con  way  (went  over  to  the  Par- 
liament, April  1644). 
Lord   Abergavenny. 

,,  A  ru  IK  lei  of  Ward  our  (died  of 
wound,  May  1643). 

,,      Brudenel. 

„      Capel. 

,,  Chandos  (wont  over  to  the  Par- 
liament, June  1644). 

, ,      Cottington. 

,,      Coventry. 

,,  Craven,  of  Uamstead-Marshall 
(some  time  abroad). 

,,  Cromwell  (created  Earl  of  Ard- 
glass  in  Irish  Peerage,  1644). 

,,      D'Arcy  and  Cony ers. 

.,  Deincourt  (created  Earl  of 
Scarsdalo,  Nov.  1646). 

„  Digby  (abroad  at  first,  but  re- 
visited  England). 

, ,  Dunsmoro  (made  Earl  of  Chiches- 
ter,  June  1644). 

..      Eure  (killed  1645). 

,,  Fauconberg  (made  Viscount, 
Jan.  1642-3). 

,,  Goring  (abroad  for  a  time,  but 
returned,  and  was  created  Earl 
of  Norwich,  Nov.  1644). 

,,      Grey   of    Ruthen    (died    June 

1643). 

Hastings  (son  of  the  Earl  of 
Huntingdon,  but  peer  in  his 
own  right ;  succeeded  his 
father  as  Karl  1043). 

,,  Herbert  of  Chorbury  (became 
Parliamentarian). 


Lord  Howard  of  Charlton  (eldest  son 
of  Earl  of  Berkshire,  but  peer 
in  his  own  right). 

,,    Lovelace. 

„  Lyttleton  (Lord  Keeper:  died 
July  1645). 

. .     M..hun  (died  1644). 

,,  Montague  of  Bough  ton  (an  old 
man,  brother  of  Earl  of  Man- 
chester: taken  prisoner  soon, 
and  ob.  1644). 

,,     Morley  and  Mounteagle. 

,,  Mowbray  and  Maltravers  (son  of 
the  Earl  of  Arundol,  but  a 
baron  in  his  own  right  since 
L089Y, 

„     Paget  (apt  to  change  sides). 

„     Paulet. 

,,  Pierrepoint  (son  of  the  Eurl  of 
Kingston,  out  peer  in  his  own 
right ;  succeeded  his  father 
1643,  and  made  Marquis  of 
Dorchester,  March  1644). 

,,     Powis. 

,,  Rich  (eldest  son  of  the  Parlia- 
mentarian Earl  of  Warwick  : 
called  to  Peers,  January 
1641-2). 

„  Savile  (created  Earl  of  Sussex, 
May  1644). 

,,  Seymour  (brother  of  the  Marquis 
of  Hertford). 

,,  Spencer  (a  very  young  man ; 
created  Earl  of  Sunderland, 
June  1643 ;  killed  Septomtar 
1643). 

,,     St  "Piirt<>n. 

,,  Strange  (succeeded  his  father  as 
Earl  of  Derby,  Sept.  1642J. 

,,  Wont  worth  (eldest  son  01  the 
Earl  of  Cleveland,  but  peer  in 
his  own  right). 

„  Willoughby  D'Eresby  (son  of  the 
Earl  of  Lindsey,  but  a  Iwrou 
in  his  own  right  since  1640  ; 
succeeded  his  father  as  Earl, 
Oct.  1642). 


II.— PEERS  NEARLY  ALL  CERTAINLY  OR  PRESUMABLY  ROYALIST, 
BUT  NON-EFFECTIVE.! 


Duke  of  Buckingham  (a  minor,  on  his 

travels  abroad). 
Earl  of  Angleaea, 

„      Arundel  and  Surrey  (had  gone 


abroad  with  the  Queen  Feb. 
1641-2 ;  created  Earl  of  Nor- 
folk June  1644 ;  ob.  at  Padua 
1646). 


>  Under  this  head  of  "Non-Effective" 
I  class  all  who,  either  from  old  ago  and 
infirmity,  or  as  minors,  took  no  per- 
sonal part,  <>r  who  were  abroad,  or  so 
soon  went  abroad  aa  to  IHJ  of  little  use 
to  the  Kin^'  in  Kn/land.  In  the  same 


elan  I  include  those  respecting  whom 
I  have  failed  to  find  any  information, — 
that  circumstance  seeming  to  M 
"non-elltt  tivi  ness."     But  all  in  this 
list,  with  porhai*  one  or  two  ei 
tions,  may  be  accounted  aa  Royalists 


430 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


Earl  of  Bridge-water  (the  Earl  of  Comus  ; 
invalid.  His  eldest  son,  Vis- 
count Brackley,  had  just  mar- 
ried Elizabeth,  second  daugh- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Newcastle). 
Danby  (old  and  infirm  ;  ob.  Jan. 
1643-4). 

„  Derby  (old  and  infirm  ;  ob.  Sept. 
1642,  when  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Lord  Strange). 

,,  Exeter  (ob.  April  1643,  and  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  John,  a 
minor). 

,.  Kent  (old  or  invalid  ;  ob.  1643, 
and  succeeded  by  his  son 
Henry,  a  Parliamentarian). 

,,  Manchester  (ob.  Nov.  1642,  when 
succeeded  by  his  son  Ld.  Kim- 
bolton,  the  Parliamentarian). 

,,  Nottingham  (ob.  Oct.  1642,  suc- 
ceeded by  his  half-brother 
Charles  Howard,  a  Parliamen- 
tarian). 

,,      Oxford  (a  minor). 

,,  St.  Alban's  (Earl  Clanrickarde 
in  the  Irish  Peerage,  and  made 
Marquis  of  Clanrickarde  1644  ; 
a  Roman  Catholic  and  Royal- 
ist, but  abroad). 


Earl  of  Somerset  (shelved  from  all 
public  sight  since  1616  ;  06. 
1645). 

,,      Straff ord  (a  minor  ;  restored  to 
his    great    father's    honours 
Dec.  1641). 
,,      Winchilsea. 
Viscount  Montague  (abroad). 

,,         Purbeck  (elder  brother  of  the 
first  Duke  of  Buckingham  ; 
in  retirement). 
,,         Stafford   (a  younger    son  of 

Earl  of  Arundel :  abroad). 
Lord   Audley  (Earl  of  Castlehaven  in 
the    Irish    Peerage ;    serving 
against    the    Rebels    in    Ire- 
land). 

Butler  of  Bramfield  (ob.  1647). 
Delawar  (a  minor ;  afterwards  a 

Parliamentarian ) . 
Dudley  (old  ;  ob.  1643). 
Finch  (Ex-Keeper ;  abroad). 
Gerard  of  Bromley  (a  minor  ? ). 
Petre    (minor,    and    a    Roman 

Catholic). 
Stanhope  (abroad). 
Teynham  (a  minor  ? ). 
Vaux  (abroad). 


III.— PARLIAMENTARIAN  PEERS.* 


Earl  of  Bedford  (succeeded  his  father 
May  1642,  and  took  his  place 
as  a  Parliamentarian  leader  ; 
was  General  of  Horse  under 
Essex  for  a  time,  but  went 
over  to  the  King,  autumn 
1643  ;  again  returned  to  Par- 
liament, Dec.  1643,  and  was 
forgiven,  but  shelved). 

,,       Bolingbroke. 

,.  Clare  (went  over  to  the  King, 
autumn  1643,  but  soon  came 
back,  and  was  forgiven,  but 
shelved). 


Earl  of  Essex  (Parliamentarian  General). 
,,  Holland  (apt  to  change  sides; 
went  over  to  the  King,  autumn 
1643,  but  came  back). 

Lincoln. 

Middlesex  (on  the  whole  on  this 
side  ;  ob.  1645). 

Mulgrave  (old  ;  ob.  1646). 

Northumberland. 

Pembroke  and  Montgomery. 

Rutland. 

Salisbury. 

Stamford. 

Suffolk. 


in  feeling  ;  and  some,  like  Arundel  and 
St.  Alban's,  were  very  ardent  Royal- 
ists, though  abroad.  My  authorities 
in  compiling  the  list  are  (1)  Absence 
from  the  King's  list  of  Effectives  in 
1643-4  ;  (2)  List  of  Peers  absent  from 
Parliament  for  various  reasons,  but  not 
with  the  King,  May  1642  (Parl.  Hist.  II. 
1297) ;  (3)  List  of  Royalist  Peers  abroad 
(Parl.  Hist.  III.  219). 

1  Authorities,  besides  general  His- 
tories and  Peerage-books,  are  :  Lists  of 
Peers  present  in  the  House,  given  day 
after  day  in  the  Lords  Journals  from 
Sept.  1643  onwards;  List  of  Parlia- 
mentarian Peers  for  Jan.  1643-4,  in 
Clar.  Hist.,  p.  467  ;  and  a  List  in  a 
fly -sheet  in  the  British  Museum,  of 
date  July  30,  1646,  printed  for  "Fran- 


cis Leach  at  the  Falcon  in  Shoe 
Lane,"  and  entitled  "  The  Great  Cham- 
pions of  England ;  being  a  Perfect 
List  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  that 
have  stood  right  to  this  Parliament." 
In  this  last  list  29  names  of  Parliamen- 
tarian Peers  are  given.  Lord  Brooke, 
who  is  in  our  list,  having  been  killed 
so  early  as  1642-3,  does  not  figure 
among  the  "  Champions  "  in  1646  ;  nor, 
as  having  been  shelved  meanwhile, 
does  the  Earl  of  Bedford  ;  but  among 
those  "Champions"  do  figure  Lord 
Herbert  of  Cherbury,  who  has  in  the 
meantime  changed  sides,  and  a  new 
Earl  of  Kent  and  a  new  Earl  of  Not- 
tingham, successors  of  the  "non- 
effectives  "  of  these  names  in  our  pre- 
ceding list. 


1642.]               CIVIL  WAR  STATISTICS  :    THE  COMMONS.  431 

Earl  of  Warwick.  Lord     Hunadon    (Viscount    Rochfort, 

Viscount  Sayo  and  Selc.  son  of  the  Royalist  Earl  of 

Lord  Berkeley.  Dover :  a  baron  since  1640  in 

.      I  Jrouke  (killed  March  1642-3).  his  own  right). 

,,    Bruce  of  Whorlton  (Earl  of  Elgin  „     Kimbolton  (succeeded  his  father 

in  Scottish  Peerage).  as  Earl  of  Manchester  Nov. 

„    Dacres.  1642). 

Fielding   (son    of    the    Royalist  ,       Maynard  (till  1647). 


Earl  of  Denbigh,  but  himself 
a  Parliamentarian  ;  succeeded 
his  father  as  Earl  of  Denbigh, 
April  1643). 

Grey  of  Wark. 

Howard  of  Escrick. 


North  of  Kirtling  (not  very 
active;  lived  chiefly  in  the 
country,  among  his  books). 

Roberts. 

Wharton. 

Willoughby  of  Parham. 


Thus,  in  the  great  body  of  the  English  Peerage,  there  was 
a  very  large  preponderance  of  Royalism.  The  distinctly  Par- 
liamentarian peers  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  did  not 
number  more  than  30,  if  quite  so  many,  while  there  were  over 
70  peers  on  the  King's  side,  and  about  28  non-effective  peers 
who  would,  almost  to  a  man,  have  been  on  that  side  too, 
but  for  the  causes  that  made  them  non-effective. 

An  analysis  of  the  Commons  House  according  to  the 
same  plan  of  distribution  is  much  more  difficult.  The  basis, 
of  course,  must  be  the  complete  roll  of  the  House  in  August 
1642.  This  roll  was,  of  course,  not  quite  the  same  as  the 
original  roll  of  the  House  on  its  first  assembling  in  Nov. 
1640,  or  after  the  informal  returns  of  that  date  had  been 
rectified  by  fresh  elections  (see  antt,  pp.  159 — 173).  In  so 
large  a  body  two-and-twenty  months  had  necessarily  made 
changes.  One  member  (Secretary  Windebank)  had  fled  at 
the  very  outset ;  about  14  had  died  ;  some  9  or  10  had  been 
expelled  for  being  concerned  in  flagrant  commercial  mono- 
polies; several  had  been  expelled  on  grounds  of  political 
offence  to  the  House,  by  breach  of  privilege  or  decorum, 
before  the  actual  rupture  with  the  King ;  4  had  been  expelled 
in  Dec.  1641  for  their  concern  in  the  first  Army-Plot;  and 
8  had  been  called  to  the  House  of  Peers,  either  by  natural 
succession  or  by  express  promotion,  since  the  opening  of  the 
Parliament.  Thus,  by  the  month  of  August  1642,  there 
were,  in  all,  about  40  members  on  the  roll  of  the  House  that 
had  not  been  original  members,  but  had  been  elected  from 
time  to  time  in  the  places  of  such.  With  these,  even  if  we 


432  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

allow  for  the  chance  that  one  or  two  of  the  most  recent 
vacancies  had  not  been  yet  filled  up,  the  roll  of  the  House 
must  have  exhibited  its  full  tale  of  500  and  odd  members. 
But  rarely,  as  we  know,  in  the  fullest  House,  had  any 
number  approaching  to  this  been  present,  and  for  two  or  three 
months  before  August,  as  we  also  know,  there  had  been  a 
special  thinning  of  the  attendances  caused  by  the  desertion 
of  Eoyalist  members.  On  the  call  of  the  roll  on  the  16th 
of  June,  as  we  have  seen  (ante,  p.  415),  not  many  more  than 
half  the  members,  or  let  us  make  a  large  allowance  and  say 
3  0  0,  were  present, — leaving  200  and  odd  astray,  some  of  whom 
may  have  sent  sufficient  excuses,  but  45  of  whom  were 
definitely  known  even  then  to  have  gone  to  the  King's 
quarters.  Taking  into  our  hands,  as  we  might  do,  that  roll 
of  500  and  odd  names  which  was  actually  called  over  in 
the  House  on  the  16th  of  June,  then,  with  the  results  of 
that  call  as  part  of  our  data,  but  with  other  data  to  aid  us, 
we  might  try  to  distribute  all  the  members,  as  we  have 
done  the  Peers,  into  the  three  classes  of  Eoyalists,  Non- 
effectives,  and  Parliamentarians,  according  to  their  known, 
or  most  probable,  whereabouts  individually  when  the  Civil 
War  was  actually  in  progress.—  —I  have  actually  attempted 
such  a  distribution ;  and  it  was  my  intention  here  to  print 
the  lists  which  I  have  laboriously  made  out,  accounting  for 
the  total  House  of  Commons,  as  far  as  I  could,  in  the  three 
categories :  the  names  in  each  arranged  alphabetically,  and 
with  notes  to  some  of  them.  In  this  I  was  to  act  on  the 
principle  that  incidental  errors  in  such  lists  might  be  excused 
in  consideration  of  the  amount  and  complexity  of  the 
research  required  to  bring  them  even  to  the  state  attained, 
and  also  because,  unless  some  one  shall  dare  to  put  forth 
such  lists  with  inaccuracies,  we  shall  never  have  them  built 
into  accuracy.  On  the  whole,  however,  I  have  resolved 
to  suppress  the  lists,  or  reserve  them  meanwhile.  A  block 
of  some  pages  of  mere  names  in  small  type,  inserted 
at  this  point,  would  be  too  great  a  tax  on  most  readers 
for  the  use  of  a  few ;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  the  more  I 
revise  my  lists,  the  more  I  doubt  whether  there  are  not 


ItHli.J 


CIVIL  WAK  STATISTICS:    T1IK  COMMONS. 


433 


more  inaccuracies  in  them,  in  the  way  of  wrong  distribution 
of  individuals,  than  would  be  pardonable  even  on  the 
prim-iplc  I  have  stated.  I  shall  content  myself,  therefore, 
with  indicating  in  a  footnote  the  authorities  on  which  I 
have  prepuivd  the  lists,1  and  with  presenting  here  the 
averages  or  general  results.  In  these  the  amount  of  error 
cannot  be  great. 

The  lists  exhibit  a  preponderance  in  the  Commons  House  in 
favour  of  Parliament.  The  numbers  are : — Effective  Royalists, 
2Q2jNon-£ffectivesQ.iid  Unstables,  58;  Parliamentarians,  245  ; 
giving  a  total  of  505  :  which  is  about  the  full  tale  of  the 
House,  if  we  allow  for  two  or  three  seats  casually  vacant.  If 
the  Non-effectives  and  Unstables  are  distributed  between 


1  1 1)  addition  to  general  readings  in 
the  history  of  the  period,  the  authori- 
ties are  chiefly  these: — (1)  The  list  of 
the  45  culpable  absentees  on  the  16th 
of  June  in  Commons  Journals  of  that 
date.  (2)  Notices,  in  the  Commons 
Journals  and  elsewhere,  of  the  subse- 
•  I  Hunt  expelling,  or  as  the  phrase  was, 
i(;.<,tli/iHg,  of  these  and  many  other 
absentees,  individually  or  in  batches, 
for  being  with  the  King,  or  at  least  for 
neglect  of  Parliamentary  duty.  I  have 
counted  195  such  cases  between  Aug. 
1642  inclusively  and  the  beginning  of 
Mil.  The  disabling  is  not  always  at 
the  moment  of  the  offence.  It  is  so  in 
glaring  cases  ;  but  it  is  often,  or  per- 
haps  generally,  an  indication  that  the 
culprit  has  Inxm  long  and  persistently 
absent.  On  the  other  hand,  one  finds 
no  record  of  the  disabling  of  some  few 
who  are  yet  indc]»undcntly  known  to 
have  been  with  the  King.  (3)  A  list 
of  about  220  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  who  were  still  doing  duty  in 
that  House  in  September  I*;;:},  inas- 
much ;i-.  on  or  after  the  2f>tli  of  that 
month,  they  signed  tho  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant  adopted  by  the  Westmin- 
ster Assembly.  This  almost  fixes  who 
were  real  Parliamentarians  in  the  Com- 
mons after  the  war  had  lasted  a  year. 
(4)  Official  li.-tj.  |  ut  forth  by  the  King 
at  Oxford  in  March  1643-4,  or  six 
months  lifter  the  above  signing  of  the 
nit.  ..f  the  Lords  and  OommoM 

still  adhering  t«.  him.  These  lists 
(I'arl.  Ili.-t.  III.  L'l-  ITJO)  contain  tl,.- 
names  of  118  members  of  the  ( '<  minions 
who  had  a.-..*i-tcd  in  tl..  .veil- 

tion  or  Anti-Parliament  at  Oxford,  and 
had  subscribed  ti  Itoy.i'  that 

VOL.   II  2 


Convention  sent  to  the  Earl  of  Essex  on 
the  preceding  27th  of  January,  together 
with  the  names  of  57  others  who  had 
joined  the  King  since,  or  were  absent 
on  tho  King's  service  and  with  leave, — 
in  all  175  of  the  Commons  claimed  by 
tho  King  as  on  his  side  in  March  1643-4. 
Some  of  these  had  signed  the  Covenant 
at  Westminster  six  months  before,  so 
that  their  secession  to  the  King  must 
have  taken  place  in  the  interval. — 
A  sort  of  rtnuint  or  combination  of  tho 
facts  of  these  lists  will  be  found  in  the 
preliminary  catalogue  of  members  of 
the  Commons  House  for  the  entire  dur- 
ation of  the  Long  Parliament  given  in 
tho  Parl.  Hist.  II.  599—629.  There 
the  letter  C  prefixed  to  a  name  denotes 
that  the  member  signed  tho  Covenant 
in  Sept.  1643  and  therefore  was  then 
still  with  tho  Parliament ;  the  letter  O 
similarly  denotes  that  the  member's 
name  is  in  tho  King's  Oxford  lists  of 
March  1643-4  ;  consequently,  whore  wo 
have  I ».t h  C  and  »  prefixed  to  a  name, 
wo  have  to  conclude  that  tho  mem- 
ber was  so  conspicuously  unstable  as 
meanwhile  to  have  changed  sides. 
There  are  some  errors  in  the  catalogue, 
however,  and  it  must  ho  examined 
with  euro,  and  with  attention  not  only 
to  the  letters  C'and  O,  but  also  to  tho 
'•sit  gives  of  the  dittiblinyt,  when 

those  are  da  ted. Finally,  the  printed 

Hy-shoot  of  date  July  30,  16 In,  entitled 
"Tho  Groat  Champions  of  Kngl.-md." 
referred  to  in  a  former  note  (p.  430), 
has  checked  and  extended  the  infor- 
mation. It  gives  266  of  tho  original 
r..mni..n-  a*  then  deservin. 
of  having  IKHJII  faithful  to  the  Parlia- 
mentary interest. 


434  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

the  opposed  parties  according  to  their  probable  tendencies,  the 
Koyalists  might  claim  about  8  of  them,  leaving  the  remaining 
50  or  so  as  presumably  more  or  less  Parliamentarian  in  their 
sympathies.  This  would  give  over  295  Parliamentarians  in 
the  Commons  House  against  some  210  Eoyalists  or  there- 
abouts ;  or,  if  we  take  round  numbers,  and  say  that  three- 
fifths  of  the  Commons  adhered  to  the  Parliamentary  cause 
and  two-fifths  went  with  the  King,  we  shall  not  be  far 
wrong.  At  all  events,  while  the  vast  majority  of  the  Peers 
were  Eoyalists,  the  balance  in  the  Commons  was  decidedly 
the  other  way. 

How  as  to  the  country  at  large  ?  The  Commons  House 
of  England  being  a  representative  body,  it  is  a  fair  enough 
conclusion  that  the  division  of  opinion  exhibited  by  this 
body  corresponded  with  the  division  that  would  have  been 
exhibited  by  the  electing  constituencies.  True,  the  House 
had  been  elected,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  members 
more  recently  returned  to  fill  accidental  vacancies,  nearly 
two  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  and  while 
as  yet  the  constituencies  were  far  from  anticipating  so  violent 
a  result.  Still,  when  the  House  was  first  composed,  the 
constituencies  did  have  in  view  a  very  exciting  struggle,  and 
did  send  in  the  men  they  wished  to  represent  them  in  that 
struggle ;  nor  can  it  be  supposed  that,  during  the  progress 
of  the  struggle,  the  constituencies  had  warmed  less  to  the 
work  than  their  representatives.  It  rather  accords  with 
what  we  know  of  representative  bodies  to  fancy  that  the 
House,  as  a  whole,  may  have  fallen  short  of  the  pitch  of 
Parliamentarian  enthusiasm  that  would  have  been  required 
of  them  by  the  body  of  the  electors,  and  that,  had  a  disso- 
lution taken  place,  and  the  constituencies  been  appealed  to 
expressly  on  the  question  of  King  or  Parliament,  a  House 
much  more  Parliamentarian  numerically  would  have  been 
returned.  Waiving  such  a  conjecture,  however,  we  may 
certainly  assume  that  the  proportion  of  three-fifths  Parlia- 
mentarian to  two-fifths  Royalist  exhibited  by  the  Commons 
House  was  not  in  excess  of  the  preponderance  of  Parlia- 


1642.J  CIVIL  WAR  STATISTICS:    THE  SH IKES.  4  ."».". 

mentarian  feeling  that  would  have  been  found  prevailing 
throughout  that  substantial  and  well-to-do  portion  of  the 
Kn^lish  people  in  whose  hands  the  franchise  was  then  placed. 
But  we  luay  go  farther.  Still  on  the  principle  that  the 
statistics  of  the  representative  body  may  be  taken  as  telling 
us  something  respecting  the  state  of  feeling  among  the 
people  represented,  we  may  now  present  those  statistics 
in  a  form  which  will  assist  us  in  determining  approximately 
what  parts  of  England  were  most  decidedly  Royalist  and 
what  most  decidedly  Parliamentarian  in  their  sympathies. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  counties  of  England  and 
Wales,  with  the  numbers  of  cities,  towns,  and  Parliamentary 
boroughs  in  each,  at  the  date  in  question,  as  also  the  numbers 
of  members  returned  by  each  to  the  Long  Parliament,  with 
the  most  exact  distribution  I  have  been  able  to  make  of 
these  members  into  Parliamentarians,  Royalists,  C.  O.'s,  and 
Non-effectives.  P.  stands  for  Parliamentarian;  E.  for  Royalist; 
C.  0.  has  been  already  explained  (see  footnote,  p.  433);  n.c. 
stands  for  non-effective: — 

COUNTY.  u.Suf!!  DISTRIBUTION. 


Bedfordshire  (shire  and  1  town)      .         4  =    all  P. 

Berkshire  (shire  and  4  boroughs)    .       10  =       5  P.  +      2  R.  +  1  C.  0.  +  2  n.  e. 

Buckinghamshire    (shire,    1    town, 

: in. I  it  boroughs) 14  =     10  P.  -f      3  R.  +  1  C.  0. 

( 'aml.rulgeshire  (shire,   University, 

and  1  town) 6  =       5  P.  +      1  R. 

Cheshire  (shire,  and  1  city)    ...        4  =       1  P.  +      3  R. 

Cornwall  (shire,  and  21  boroughs)  .       44  =     14  P.  +    23  R.  +  2  C.  0.  +  5  n.  o. 

Cumberland   (shire,    1   city,  and   1 

borough) 6  =       3  P.  -f      3  R. 

Derbyshire  (shire,  and  1  town)   .     .        4  =       2  P.  +      1  R.  +  1  n.  e. 

Devonshirc(shiro,l  city,  10  boroughs, 

and  1  group  of  boroughs)     .     .       26  =     13  P.  +    10  R.  +  3  n.  e. 

Dorsetshire  (shire,   1  town,  and  8 

boroughs) 20=     IIP.  -f      7  R.  -I- 2  n.  e. 

Essex  (shire,  and  3  boroughs)     .     .        8  =    all  P. 
Gloucestershire  (shire,  1  city,  and 

2  boroughs) 8  =      2  P.  -f      4  R.  +  1  C.  0.  +  1  n.  o. 

Hampshire  (shire,    1  city,  2  towns, 

1  !'  1- -roughs) 26=     15  P.  +      8R.  -I- 3  n.  e. 

l-hirc   (-hire.    1    city,   and 

•J»M.roughs) 8=       1  P.  +       6  R.  +10LO. 

Hertfordshire    (shire,    1     town,    ami 

1  WoM-h)  •;  B  I',   -r       1  R. 

Uantinfldonuuure(ihire.aad  1  town)        4=      3  P.  +      1  R. 

Kent  (-hire.  iVitk-s.  an.l  li  l...r..u-h«j       10=       7  P.  -r       2  R.  +  1  n.  e. 

.in-    (-hire.     1    town.    aii«l    ."• 

jH,r..ughs).     .  .       14  =      8  P.  +      5  R.  +  1  n.  e. 

Leicestershire  (-hue,  an.i  1  town;    .         4=      3  P.  +      1  R. 


436  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 


COUNTY.                           MEMBERS. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

Lincolnshire   (shire,   1   city,  and   4 

boroughs)  

12  = 

9  P.  4 

2R.                    H 

-  1  n.  e. 

Middlesex  (shire,  and  cities  of  Lon- 

don and  Westminster  ;  London 

returning  4  members)      .     .     . 
Monmouthshire  (shire,  and  1  town) 

8  = 
4  = 

all  P. 

2R.                    H 

-  2  n.  e. 

Norfolk  (shire,  1  city,  2  towns,  and 

2  boroughs)   

12  = 

7  P.  4 

2R.                    H 

-  3  n.  e. 

Northamptonshire  (shire,  1  city,  1 
town,  and  two  boroughs)      .     . 

10  = 

8  P.  4 

1  R.                    H 

-  1  n.  e. 

Northumberland   (shire,    2    towns, 

and  1  borough)  

8  = 

3  P.  4 

5R. 

Nottinghamshire  (shire,  1  town,  and 

1  borough      

6  = 

2  P.  -t 

4  R. 

Oxfordshire    (shire,     University,    1 

city,   and   2   boroughs,   one   of 

which  returns  but  one  member) 

9  = 

6  P.  4 

3R. 

Rutlandshire  (shire  only)  .... 

2  = 

2R. 

Shropshire   (shire,    2   towns,  and  3 

boroughs)  

12  = 

2  P.  4 

•    10  R. 

Somersetshire  (shire,   3   cities,  and 

5  boroughs)    

18  = 

4  P.  4 

11  R.                    H 

-  3  n.  e. 

Staffordshire  (shire,  1  city,  1  town, 

and  2  boroughs)      

10  = 

3  P.  4 

6  R.  +  1  C.  0. 

Suffolk    (shire,     1     town,     and     6 

boroughs)  

16  = 

10  P.  4 

3R.                   H 

-  3  n.  e. 

Surrey  (shire,  and  6  boroughs)    .     . 

14  = 

7  P.  4 

2R.                    H 

-  5  n.  e. 

Sussex  (shire,  1  city,  and  8  boroughs) 

20  = 

10  P.  4 

7R.                   H 

-  3  n.  e. 

Warwickshire  (shire,  1  city,  and  1 

borough)   

6  = 

4  P.  -} 

-      2R. 

Westmoreland  (shire,  and  1  town)  . 

4  = 

allR. 

Wiltshire   (shire,    1    city,    and    15 

boroughs)  

34  = 

23  P.  4 

9R.                    H 

-  2  n.  e. 

Worcestershire  (shire,  1  city,  and  3 

boroughs)  

10  = 

3  P.  4 

5R.                    H 

r  2  n.  e. 

Yorkshire   (shire,    1    city,   and    13 

boroughs)  

30  = 

13  P.  4 

16  R.                    H 

-  1  n.  e. 

Cinque  Ports  (i.e.  Hastings,  Rom- 
ney,  Hythe,  Dover,  Sandwich, 
Seaford,  Rye,  and  Winchilsea, 
each  returning  two  members)  .  16  =  9  P.  +  4  R.  +  1  C.  0.  4-  2  n.  e. 

WALES  (12  counties,  and  12  towns 
or  boroughs,  each  returning 
one  member) 24  =  4  P.  +  17  R.  4-  3  n.  e. 

TOTAL 511  =  255  P.  4-  198  R.  4-  8  C.  0.  4-50  n.  e. 

Various  questions  of  historical  interest  are  suggested  by 
this  table.  How  had  it  happened,  for  example,  that  the 
single  remote  county  of  Cornwall  was  then  of  such  political 
importance  as  to  send  a  far  larger  number  of  members  to 
the  House  of  Commons  than  any  other  county, — more  than 
a  twelfth  part  of  the  whole  representation  of  England  and 
Wales  being  vested  in  that  extreme  western  horn  of  the 
island  ?  How  did  Wiltshire  chance  to  be  next  in  this 


1642.]  CIVIL  WAR  STATISTICS  :    THESIIII  437 

respect  ,  ami  why  were  some  of  the  Knglish  shires  that 
ii.  now  nf  greatest  weight  so  feebly  represented  in  com- 
parison ?  Without  staying  on  such  questions,  which  would 
lead  back  into  too  extensive  researches,  let  us  note  what  is 
of  chief  interest  for  our  present  purposa  Of  the  39  English 
counties,  it  will  be  noted,  there  were  three  which  were  wholly 
represented  by  Parliamentarians :  viz.  Bedford,  Essex,  and 
Middlesex.  In  twenty -one  others,  the  Parliamentarians 
were  more  or  less  distinctly  in  the  majority  :  viz.  Berks, 
Bucks,  Cambridge,  Derby,  Devon,  Dorset,  Hants,  Herts, 
Hunts,  Kent,  Lancashire,  Leicester,  Lincoln,  Norfolk,  North- 
ampton, Oxfordshire,  Suffolk,  Surrey,  Sussex,  Warwick,  and 
Wilts ;  and  it  was  the  same  with  the  Cinque  Ports.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  were  two  counties, — Rutland  and  West- 
moreland,— wholly  represented  by  Royalists  ;  while  in  twelve 
others  Royalism  was  decidedly  preponderant:  viz.  Cheshire, 
Cornwall,  (Houcester,  Hereford,  Monmouth,  Northumberland, 
Notts,  Shropshire,  Somerset,  Stafford,  Worcester,  and  York. 
Royalism  was  greatly  preponderant  also  throughout  Wales. 
In  one  county  only,  Cumberland,  was  there  an  equal  balance, 
—  If,  with  these  facts  in  mind,  one  looks  at  the  map, 
they  assume  a  geographical,  and  perhaps  an  ethnographical 
significance.  The  strength  of  Parliamentarianism,  it  is  seen 
at  a  glance,  lay  in  the  eastern  counties  of  Middlesex,  Essex, 
Bedford,  Cambridge, Hunts,  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  and  Lincoln,  with 
the  midland  counties  and  the  south-eastern  counties  nearest 
to  these.  Royalism,  on  the  other  hand,  was  strongest  in  the 
west  ami  the  north, — especially  in  Wales  and  Cornwall,  and  in 
Somerset,  Urn-toid,  Shropshire,  Stafford,  ( 'heshiiv,  \\V-tinoiv 
land,  and  other  counties  near  the  Welsh  borders.  The  balance 
was  most  nearly  even  in  some  of  the  central  counties,  and  in 
I  »•  on,  Dorset,  Hants,  Sussex,  Lancashire,  and  York. 

1 1  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the  foregoing  calculations 
as  to  the  relative  strengths  of  Royalism  and  Parliamen- 
tarianism in  different  parts  of  the  country  are  founded  mainly 
on  the  ivtimis  that  had  been  made  to  Parliament  two  years 
IM-IOIV  tin-  rupture.  in  t hese  returns  only  the  electors  of  that 
day,  and  n-.t  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  had  been  con- 


438  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

cerned.  Could  we  take  the  whole  body  of  the  people  into 
account,  Parliamentarianism  might  be  found  to  have  been 
even  more  in  the  ascendant  than  the  foregoing  figures 
would  indicate.  Puritanism  or  Anti-Episcopacy,  we  know, 
had  taken  possession  of  the  popular  mind  in  many  districts 
where  those  who  wielded  political  influence  still  adhered  to 
the  old  Church  forms ;  and,  wherever  there  was  Puritanism 
or  Anti-Episcopacy  ecclesiastically,  there  the  political  sym- 
pathies were  Parliamentarian.  London,  not  only  as  being 
the  capital,  and  as  encircling  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
but  also  as  being  the  city  where  Puritanism  was  most  rife, 
was  necessarily  the  Parliamentarian  head- quarters.  What 
city  or  town  should  become  the  head-quarters  of  the 
King  depended  on  the  military  exigencies  that  might  arise 
in  the  course  of  the  war.  In  Chester  or  in  Shrewsbury  he 
would  have  been  in  the  midst  of  a  population  adhering  to 
him,  and  on  the  verge  of  the  western  and  Welsh  region 
whence  he  was  to  draw  much  of  his  levies ;  but  Oxford,  as 
nearer  to  London,  and  as  a  rendezvous  of  the  higher  clergy 
and  doctors,  and  of  all  the  Eoyalism  they  brought  in  their 
train,  might  have  peculiar  advantages. 

THE    TWO    ARMIES    AND    THEIR    OFFICERS. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  numerical  distribution  of  the 
entire  population  of  England  and  Wales  between  the  two 
sides,  the  decision  was  likely  to  be  determined  not  by  any 
process  of  polling,  but  by  a  much  more  practical  test.  It  was 
likely  to  be  determined  by  the  superiority  that  might  be 
shown  by  one  side  or  the  other  in  raising,  supporting,  and 
officering  its  army.  It  was  quite  possible  that  the  weaker  side 
numerically  might  have  the  superiority  in  this  respect ;  or,  if 
the  two  sides  began  on  something  like  equality  in  this  respect, 
the  victory  would  be  with  that  side  which  should  first  work 
itself  into  the  superiority. 

How  were  the  two  armies  raised  ?  Take,  first,  the  Parlia- 
mentarian army.  So  far  as  this  army  was  already  in  exist- 
ence, it  had  been  raised  by  two  processes.  Much  had  been 


CIVIL   WAK   STATISTICS:    TIIK  TWO  ARMIES.  439 

done  I iv  the  regular  plan  of  executing  that  ordinance  which 
had  U-rii  the  subject  of  dispute  between  the  Kiii.u  and  the 
two  Houses,  and  wliich  at  length  the  t\v<>  Houses  had  passed 
l»y  their  own  authority  without  tin-  Kind's  assent  (March  5, 
1  il 41  -2).  By  this  ordinance  Parliament  had  taken  what  may 
be  called  the  regular  military  machinery  of  the  country  into 
its  own  hands,  inasmuch  as  it  appropriated  to  itself  the  power 
of  appointing  those  persons  who  were  to  be  the  lords- 
lieutenant,  or  heads  of  array,  in  the  different  counties.  In 
pursuance  of  the  ordinance,  certain  persons,  chiefly  noblemen 
of  high  rank,  had  been  nominated  to  the  lieutenancies  of  the 
different  counties.  The  Earl  of  Bolingbroke  had  been  nomi- 
nated for  Bedfordshire ;  the  Earl  of  Holland  for  Berkshire ; 
Ix>rd  North  for  Cambridgeshire  ;  Lord  Roberts  for  Cornwall ; 
The  Earl  of  Warwick  for  Essex  ;  Lord  Kimbolton  for  Hunts  ; 
the  Earl  of  Essex  for  Staffordshire  ;  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land for  Sussex ;  Lord  Brooke  for  Warwickshire ;  the  Earl 
of  Pembroke  for  Wiltshire ;  &c.  Most  of  the  noblemen  so 
appointed  were  men  of  known  Parliamentarian  views ;  but, 
whether  from  want  of  foresight  at  the  time,  or  to  preserve 
appearances,  a  few  peers  of  Royalist  sympathies  had  also 
been  nominated.  Thus,  Lord  Strange  had  been  nominated 
for  Cheshire  ;  Lord  Spencer  for  Northamptonshire ;  the  Mar- 
quis of  Hertford  for  Somersetshire.  Each  lord-lieutenant 
was  to  have  power  to  appoint  deputy-lieutenants  under  him, 
to  be  approved  by  Parliament,  and  to  assemble,  arm,  and  train 
the  subjects  within  his  county  or  district,  appoint  officers  over 
tin-in,  and  the  like.  Having  thus,  as  early  as  March  1641-2, 
arranged  the  machinery,  Parliament  had,  by  subsequent 
orders,  when  civil  war  seemed  inevitable  (May  1642),  put 
it  in  operation.  The  lords-lieutenant  who  had  been  nomi- 
nated, or  at  least  those  of  them  who  adhered  to  Parliament, 
had  been  busy,  personally  or  through  their  deputies  ;  ardent 
members  of  the  Commons  had  been  sent  into  the  counties 
wh« -re  they  had  influence,  to  stimulate  preparations  ;  and  the 
consequence  was  that,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Parliament 
had  levies  over  a  considerable  part  of  the  country  ready  or 
forthcoming.  In  a d d i tion,  however,  to  these  levies,  raised  by 


440  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY    OF   HIS   TIME. 

the  application  of  the  Militia  ordinance,  there  were,  wherever 
Parliamentarian  feeling  was  strongest,  troops  and  companies 
of  Volunteers,  authorized  by  Parliament.  Nowhere,  out  of 
London,  was  the  Volunteering  movement  more  eager  than 
in  Cambridgeshire  and  the  adjacent  eastern  counties,  where 
Cromwell  had  set  the  example. —  —Meanwhile,  the  King, 
dependent  also  to  a  considerable  extent  on  Volunteering  from 
the  higher  ranks  that  were  loyal  to  him,  and  especially  from 
the  young  aristocracy,  had  set  in  operation  a  machinery  for 
ordinary  levies  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  Militia  ordinance 
of  Parliament.  The  lieges  had  been  forbidden,  under  pain 
of  treason,  to  obey  the  Parliamentary  ordinance,  and  had  been 
called  upon  to  obey  rather  the  King's  "  Commissions  of  Array," 
— viz.  commissions  given  in  the  King's  name  to  loyal  noble- 
men and  gentlemen,  empowering  them  to  raise  and  arm  the 
subjects  in  different  shires  and  districts  for  the  King's  service 
(May  and  June  1642).  By  the  exertions  of  those  who  acted 
on  these  commissions  of  array,  forces  for  the  King  had  been 
raised,  or  were  forthcoming,  from  various  parts  of  the  country, 
but  chiefly  from  Wales,  and  the  western  English  and  northern 
English  counties. 

When  the  two  armies,  thus  diversely  raised,  were  first 
brought  into  the  field,  or  were  organized  on  paper  with  a  view 
to  being  brought  into  the  field,  this  is  about  the  shape  they 
assumed : — 

ROYALIST  ARM Y.i 
(Estimated  at  40,000  in  Oct.  or  Nov.  1642.) 

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  :  Robert  Bertie,  Earl  of  Lindsey  (Lord  Great  Chamberlain), 
till  his  death  at  Edgehill  fight,  Oct.  1642  ;  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Patrick 
Ruthyen,  Earl  of  Forth. 

General  of  Horse  :  Prince  Rupert  (the  King's  nephew,  cvtat.  23). 

Lieutenant-General  of  Foot  :  Patrick  Ruthven,  Earl  of  Forth  in  the  Scottish  Peer- 
age. (He  had  served  under  Gustavus-Adolphus,  and  had  recently  been 
Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle.  He  succeeded  the  Earl  of  Lindsey  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Brentford  in  1644.) 

Lieutenant-General  of  Horse  :  Henry  Wilmot  (afterwards  Lord  Wilmot). 

Major-General  of  Foot :  Sir  Jacob  Astley  (afterwards  Lord  Astley). 

1  The  information  I  have  been  able  Museum.  It  is  dated  1642, — "Nov.  12" 

to  obtain  as  to   the   composition  and  added  in  MS.  on  the  title-page, — and  is 

organization  of  the  King's  army  is  less  entitled  "A  Copy  of  a  List  of  all  the 

full  and  exact  than  that  I  have  obtained  Cavaliers   and   Brave   Commanders  of 

respecting  the  Parliamentarian  army.  His   Majesty's   Marching  Army,   with 

I  trust  chiefly  to  a  pamphlet  a  copy  of  the  number  of  Captains  in  each  several 

which  I  have  examined  in  the  British  Regiment."     In  Harl.  MS.  989  there  is 


1642.]  THE  KING'S   ARMY.  441 

//    <>  :  Lord  Wontworth. 
-<v  ;  Henry  Percy  (afterwards  Lord  Percy). 

>i  ,,fn,-,l  „„,.,;  •  Sir.fohn  lluydmi  :  and  then  Colonel  Kiehard  Fielding. 
C'ommutary-GfHfiiif  ••/  II  lit.  OoMDtl  Wilmot ;  then  Sir  Arthur  Aston  (a 

Roman  Catholic). 
Trtaiitm- »r't/«  A  nun:  William  Ashburnham. 

matter:  Sir  William  Bronckard. 
''tt-Oetural :  David  Scrimshere  (i.«.  Scrimgeour :  a  Scot). 

I.   KINO'S  LIFE-GUARDS. 

We  put  these  by  themselves,  as  a  most  distinguished  part  of  the 
Army: — (1)  In  the  King's  "Troop  of  Guards,"  properly  so  called, 
were  included,  according  to  Clarendon  (Hist.  306),  "  most  of  the 
persons  of  honour  and  quality," — viz.  most  of  the  young  or  middle- 
aged  noblemen,  baronets,  and  knights  of  courtly  habits, — who 
wished  to  give  their  personal  service  to  the  King,  as  private 
gentlemen-soldiers,  without  having  commands.  It  was  "so  gallant 
a  body,"  according  to  Clarendon,  "  that,  upon  a  very  modest  compu- 
tation, the  estate  and  revenue  of  that  single  troop  might  justly  be 
valued  at  least  equal  to  theirs  who  then  voted  in  both  Houses,"  viz. 
the  residuary  Peers  and  Commons  at  Westminster.  Serving  in  this 
troop  as  privates  were  the  Earls  of  Dover  and  Denbigh,  and  many 
other  Earls  and  Lords ;  its  commander  was  Lord  Bernard  Stewart, 
the  King's  kinsman,  and  a  younger  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond and  Lennox  (he  was  killed,  1645) ;  and  in  this  troop  was  the 
King's  standard,  borne  by  Sir  Edmund  Verney. — (2)  The  servants 
of  the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  the  King's  troop  of  Guards 
made  another  full  troop  of  themselves,  and,  according  to  Clarendon, 
"always  marched  with  their  lords  and  masters."  Their  commander 
was  Sir  William  Killigrew. 

II.  MAIN  BODY  OP  FOOT  =  ABOUT  14,000  MEN. 

Fourteen  Regiments,  averaging  a  thousand  men  each,  seem  to 
have  been  available  for  the  King  about  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
Th.  following  is  a  list  of  them,  with  the  names  of  the  principal 
officers : — 

a  List  of  ItatfimontR,  Officers,  &c.,  of  1642,  which  has  been  one  of  my  autho- 

ali-t  army  :  l»ut,  as  it  refers  to  rities,  in  Mr.  Edward  Peacock's  Army 

the  latter  jiart  of  the  year  1644,  it  does  /  '/,,    limtmilirttd*  and  t'ctra/iVrx 

not  represent  the  state  of  the  King's  (London,  1863).     Mr.  Peacock's  reprint 

forces  at  the  outset  of  the  war.     Even  is  from  a  copy  in  the  Bodleian,  of  which 

tin-  furiiH-r  li.-t  is  va^ue  and  im perfect,  he  does  not  ffivo  the  date,  and  which 

and  has  to  be  rectified  in  particulars.  differs  somewhat  in  its  title,  but  appa- 

For  example,  Insin^  drawn  up  after  the  rently  not  in  its  text,  from  the  British 

Karl   of   Lindsey's  death,  it  does  not  Museum  cony  examined  by  me.      He 

name  him  as  commandor-in-chief.     By  has  confined  himself  to  a  more  reprint 

th.-  lirlii  of  ( 'larendon  and  other  autho-  of  the  Tract,  which  hardly  accounts  f..r 

I  have  tried  t«.  make  th<-  neces-  the    Kind's  whole  armv  :    Imt    I    have 

IditioM  and   rectitieatioiis  ;  l.ut  added  a  particular  or  tw..  t«,  my  digest 

there  may  bo  errors  or  anachronisms  from  his  footnotes  to  individual  name-. 

still    remaining.      No  one  can   know,  I  stop  my  naming,  in  each  re^inn-nt. 

till    hu   has  tried,  the  dimculty  of  com-  at    tin-    Major  (then    called   "  Sergeant  - 

piling  such  a  list  with    anything   like  Major");   th.-  Tract    it-elf  ^oi-s  ,,i,   t.. 

accuracy.— Sin.-.-  ••..mpilim/  my   list,    I  tin;  Captains. 
hare  Men  a  reprint  of  the  Tract  of  Nov. 


442  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

1.  THE  EARL  OF  NEWCASTLE'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  ; 

Lieut. -Colonel,  —  Rich  ;  Major,  —  Babthorpe  ;  eight  Captains. 

2.  LORD  TAFFE'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,  Theobald,   Viscount  Taffe  in  the  Irish 

Peerage  (afterwards  Earl  of  Carlingford)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  Sir  John  Rhodes  ; 
Major,  Thomas  Treveere  ;  nine  Captain*. 

3.  COLONEL  HASTINGS'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,   Henry  Hastings  (younger  son  of 

the  Earl  of  Huntingdon)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  —  Langley  ;  Major,  —  Stanley  ; 
five  Captains. 

4.  SIR  THOMAS  GLENHAM'S  REGIMENT:  Colonel,  Sir  Thomas  Glenham  ;  Lieut.- 

Colonel,  —  Vaughan  ;  Major,  —  Wagstaff  (afterwards  Sir  Joseph  Wagstaff, 
and  in  higher  command)  ;  five  Captains. 

5.  SIR  FRANCIS  WORTLEY'S  REGIMENT:    Colonel,  Sir  Francis  Wortley  ;  Lieut. - 

Colonel,  —  Russell  ;  Major,  —  Waller  ;  three  Captains. 

6.  LORD  GRANDISON'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  William  Villiers,  Viscount  Grandison 

of  the  Irish  Peerage  (afterwards  Lieut. -General,  and  died  of  wounds  received 
at  the  siege  of  Bristol,  July  1643)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  John  Digby  (afterwards 
Sir  John)  ;  Major,  —  Willoughby  ;  seven  Captains. 

7.  COLONEL  PORTER'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Endymion  Porter  (Gentleman  of  the 

King's  Bedchamber)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  —  Vavasour  ;  Major,  —  Stanhope  (one 
of  the  sons  of  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield)  ;  seven  Captains. 

8.  COLONEL  ASHBURNHAM'S  REGIMENT:  Colonel,  William  Ashburnham  ;  Lieut, - 

Colonel,  —  Bmerton  ;  Major,  Sir  Henry  Carey,  Knt.  (co.  Devon)  ;  seven 
Captains. 

9.  COLONEL  BELLASIS'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  John  Bellasis  (second-  son  of  Lord 

Fauconberg,  and  afterwards  himself  a  peer,  as  Lord  Bellasis)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel, 
—  Murray  ;  Major,  —  Pope  ;  seven  Captains. 

10.  LORD  KILMURRA'Y'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,  Viscount  Kilmurray,  of  the  Irish 

Peerage  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  Sir  Faithful  Fortescue  (deserted  to  the  King  at 
Edgehill)  ;  Major,  Sir  Hugh  Pollard  (killed  1646)  ;  seven  Captains. 

11.  SIR  LEWIS  DIVES'S  REGIMENT:    Colonel,  Sir  Lewis  Dives,   Knt.   (M.P.  for 

Bridport,  made  prisoner  Aug.  1645)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  —  Lacy  ;  Major,  Sir 
William  Widdrington,  Bart,  (made  Baron  Widdrington,  Nov.  1643)  ;  five 
Captains, 

12.  SIR  CHARLES  LUCAS'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Sir  Charles  Lucas  (shot  after  the 

siege  of  Colchester,  Aug.  1648)  ;  Lieut-Colonel,  —  Stanley  ;  Major,  —  Kelly  ; 
five  Captains. 

13.  SIR    GEORGE    GOTHERICHE'S    REGIMENT  :    Colonel,   Sir  George  Gotheriche ; 

Lieut. -Colonel,  —  Washington  ;  Major,  —  Powell  ;  five  Captains. 

14.  COLONEL  OSBORNE'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Sir  Edward  Osborne,  Bart,  (father 

of  Thomas  Osborne,  first  Duke  of  Leeds)  ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  —  Savage  ;  Major, 
Daniel  O'Neill  ;  seven  Captains. 

III.  MAIN  BODY  OF  HORSE. 

Respecting  this  portion  of  the  King's  army,  all  the  information 
given  in  the  pamphlet  which  is  my  principal  authority  is  as  fol- 
lows : — There  was  a  "  Prince's  Troop,"  consisting  of  about  500 
horse,  and  commanded  by  Sir  Thomas  Byron,  brother  of  the  first 
Lord  Byron  ;  the  Earl  of  Bristol  had  "  two  troops " ;  the  Earl  of 
Crawford  (Ludovic  Lindsay,  fifteenth  Earl  of  Crawford  in  Scotland) 
had  "three  troops";  Lord  Digby  "two  troops";  Lord  Capel 
"  two  troops  "  ;  Lord  Grandison,  Lord  Kilmurray,  Lord  Rich,  Sir 
Charles  Lucas,  Sir  Geo.  Gotheriche,  Sir  Francis  Wortley,  and  Sir 
John  Byron  (afterwards  Lord  Byron,  and  ancestor  of  the  poet), 
"one  troop."  But,  in  Clarendon  (Hist.  306),  we  hear  of  two 
or  three  regiments  of  Dragoons  besides,  about  1000  strong  in  all, 
under  the  command  of  Sir  Arthur  Aston. 

IV.  PROVINCIAL  DETACHMENTS  =  16,000. 

"  I  have  omitted,"  says  the  compiler  of  the  pamphlet,  "  the  Earl 
"  of  Cumberland  his  horse  and  foot,  the  Marquis  of  Hertford's 


1642.]  TIIK  1'AKUAMKNTARIAN  ARMY.  44.". 

"  horse  and  foot,  the  Earl  of  Derby's  horse  and  foot — [all]  which  is 
"at  the  least  16,000— none  of  which  has  yet  [Nov.  1642]  been 
"  with  his  Majesty."  In  other  words,  besides  the  main  army  as 
above  accounted  for,  there  were  large  forces  acting  for  the  King  in 
different  parts  of  England  under  great  noblemen  who  had  been 
despatched  by  the  King  on  special  territorial  commands  before  he 
had  left  Yorkshire  and  set  up  his  standard  at  Nottingham.  The 
Earl  of  Cumberland  had  been  placed  in  command  of  Yorkshire  itself ; 
the  Earl  of  Newcastle  had  been  sent  into  Northumberland,  and  had 
acquired  possession  of  Newcastle,  and  been  made  governor  of  that 
town,  so  important  for  the  King  as  a  seaport ;  the  Earl  of  Derby  (Lord 
Strange  till  Sept  1642)  had  undertaken  Cheshire  and  Lancashire, 
under  the  King's  commission  of  array ;  and  the  Marquis  of  Hert- 
ford, at  one  time  thought  of  for  commander-in-chief,  had  been  sent 
into  Somersetshire  with  a  separate  commission  as  "  General  in  all 
the  Western  parts,"  and  had  taken  the  Earl  of  ttath  and  some  of  the 
ablest  of  the  King's  officers  with  him,  including  Sir  Ralph  Hopton 
(afterwards  Lord  Hopton).1 

PARLIAMENTARIAN    ARMY. 
I. — ESSEX'S,  OR  MAIN  ARMY. 

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF:  Robert  Devoreux,  Earl  of  Essex  ;  <tta(.  50.    (Essex's  colours 

were  "a  deep  yellow.") 
Gtnfral  of  Horse :  William  Russell,  fifth  Earl  of  Bedford  (afterwards  went  over  to 

the  King,  then  came  back  to  Parliament :  l>ecame  first  Duke  of  Bedford  in 

1694,  died  1700). 
Lieut.- General  of  Horse :  Sir  William  Balfour,  Knt.  (formerly  Lieutenant  of  the 

Tower). 
General  of  Ordnance :  John,  Earl  of  Peterborough  (died  June  18,  1642,  before  ho 

could  serve). 

Lieut. -Genfntl  of  Ordnance  :  Philibert  Emanuel  do  Boyes. 
tStrgtunt- Major  Gciifnit :  Sir  John  Merrick,  Knt.  (M.P.  for  Newcastle-under-Lino), 

succeeded  by  Philip  Skippon. 
<t>"<>tt>niicuter-General :  John  Dalbier  (a  Dutchman,  who  had  seen  service). 

•/w-flMI'tfr:  Sir  Gilbert  Gerard,  Bart.  (M.P.  for  Middlesex). 
Ail nx-iiif  of  thf  Ariuii :  Dr.  Isaac  Dori.sluus  (a  Dutchman,  who  had  resided  long  in 

England,  had  held  the  History  Professorship  at  Cambridge,  and  had  Income 

•  mo  of  the  Professors  in  Gresham  College,  London). 

FOOT  =  ABOUT  25,000  MKN. 

The  Foot-ltegiments  were  20  in  number  ;  each  calculated  at  1 200 

men,  exclusive  of  officers,  and  divided  into  ten  companies:    the 

Co/"//»V's  company,  of  200  men;  the  Lieut. -Col<meV*>  of  160;  the 

140;  and  seven  Captains'  companies,  of  100 

UK  11    each.       Each   company   had,   of   course,   its   Lieutenant  and 

The   Regiments,   with    their   chief  officers,  successively 

were  as  follows  : 2 — 

'  <   "•  Hi  •  •'// the  officers, —Captains,  Lieutenant 

itlmr-ity  is  .t  |..un|>lilct  in  tin-  ami    Knsigns   included,— are  given  in 

Hriti.-h  Musi-urn"..-  11.  1«ipj.  thi«  pamphlet.—!  find  a  reprint  of  this 

•  •ntitliMl  "Tin-  Li-t  of  tin-  Army  rained  pamphlet  in  Mr.  Peao>rk\  .1 ,//,//  Lid* 

imili-r  tin-  <-<>nmi:in<l  of  ||j*  Kxr.-ll.-m-y.  »f'l<f  Rouiutliftul*  anil  '  1 1863). 

<>f  Kssex."     The  name*  of 


444  LIFE   OF   MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

1.  His  EXCELLENCY  THE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S  REGIMENT  :   Colonel,  His  Ex- 

cellency ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  W.  Davies  ;  Serjeant-Major,  Jo.  Bampfield  ;  seven 
other  Captains  of  Companies.  Attached 'to  this  Regiment  was  a  company  of 
100  Cuirassiers,  for  His  Excellency's  Guard,  under  Sir  Philip  Stapleton,  Knt. 
(M.  P.  for  Borough  bridge)  as  Captain;  also  a  troop  of  50  Carbineers.  The 
Regiment  had  a  Physician  and  a  Surgeon  ;  and  its  Chaplain  was  Stephen 
Marshall. 

2.  SIR  JOHN  MERRICK'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Sir  John  Merrick ;  Lieut.-Colonel, 

Vincent  Kilmady  ;  Sergeant-Major,  William  Herbert ;  seven  Captains. 

3.  EARL  OP  PETERBOROUGH'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,  the  Earl  of  Peterborough  ; 

Lieut.-Colonel,  Sir  Faithful  Fortescue  (wrongly  named  "Faithful"  ;  he  de- 
serted at  Edgehill)  ;  Sergeant- Major,  Francis  Fairfax  ;  seven  Captains. 

4.  EARL  OF  STAMFORD'S  REGIMENT:    Colonel,  the  Earl  of  Stamford  :   Lieut.- 

Colonel,  Edward  Massey  (became  distingiiished)  ;  Sergeant- Major,  Constan- 
tine  Ferrer  ;  seven  Captains. 

5.  LORD  SAYE'S  REGIMENT:    Colonel,  Viscount  Saye  and   Sele  ;   Lieut.-Colonel, 

George  Hutchinson  ;  Sergeant-Major,  James  Acheson  ;  seven  Captains. 

6.  LORD  WHARTON'S  REGIMENT:  Colonel,  Lord  Wharton  ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Jere- 

miah Horton  ;  Sergeant-Major,  Owen  Parry  ;  seven  Captains. 

7.  LORD  ROCHFORD'S  REGIMEMT  :  Colonel,  John  Carey,  Lord  Rochford  (son  and 

heir  of  the  Earl  of  Dover)  ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Edward  Aldrich  ;  Sergeant-Major, 
Thomas  Leighton  ;  seven  Captains. 

8.  LORD  ST.  JOHN'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Oliver,  Lord  St.  John  (eldest  son  of  the 

Earl  of •  Bolingbroke :  killed  at  Edgehill,  Oct.  1642)  ;  Lieut.-Colonel.  Thomas 
Essex  ;  Sergeant-Major,  Edward  Andrews  ;  seven  Captains. 

9.  LORD  BROOKE'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Lord  Brooke  (killed,  April  1643) ;  Lieut.- 

Colonel,  Sir  Edward  Peto  ;  Sergeant-Major,  Walter  Ash  worth  ;  seven  Captains 
— one  of  whom  is  John  Lilburne. 

10.  LORD  MANDEYILLE'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,  Viscount  Mandeville,  Lord  Kim- 

bolton  ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  John  Parkinson  ;  Sergeant-Major,  John  Drake  ;  seven 
Captains.  The  Chaplain  to  this  Regiment  is  Simeon  Ashe. 

11.  LORD  ROBERTS'S  REGIMENT:  Colonel,  Lord  Roberts;  Lieut.-Colonel,  William 

Hunter  ;  Sergeant-Major,  Alex.  Hurry  ;  seven  Captains. 

12.  SIR  HENRY  CHOLMLEY'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,   Sir   Henry  Cholmley,   Knt. 

(M.P.  for  Northallerton) ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Lawrence  Alured  ;  Serqeant-Major, 
Thomas  Southcot ;  seven  Captains.  The  Chaplain  is  Adoniram  Byfield. 

13.  COLONEL  HOLLES'S  REGIMENT:  Colonel,  Denzil  Holies  (M.P.  for  Dorchester) ; 

Lieut.-Colonel,  Henry  Billingsley  ;  Sergeant-Major,  James  Quarles ;  seven 
Captains. 

14.  COLONEL  BAMPFIELD'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  William  Bampfield  (went  over  to 

the  King)  ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Roger  Wingneld  ;  Sergeant-Major,  Samuel  Price  ; 
seven  Captains. 

15.  COLONEL    GRANTHAM'S    REGIMENT:    Colonel,   Thomas  Grantham  (M.P.   for 

Lincoln) ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Francis  Clarke  ;  Sergeant-Major,  John  Holman  ; 
seven  Captains. 

16.  SIR  WILLIAM  CONSTABLE'S  REGIMENT  :  Colonel,  Sir  William  Constable,  Bart. 

(M.P.  for  Knaresborough)  ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Robert  Grain  ;  Sergeant-Major, 
Henry  Frodsham  ;  seven  Captains.  The  Chaplain  is  William  Sedgwick. ' 

17.  COLONEL  BALLARD'S  REGIMENT:    Colonel,   Thomas  Ballard  ;   Lieut.-Colonel, 

Francis  Martin  ;  Sergeant-Major,  William  Lowe  ;  seven  Captains. 

18.  SIR  WILLIAM  FAIRFAX'S  REGIMENT:    Colonel,  Sir  William  Fairfax  (killed, 

Sept.  1644) ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  William  Monings  ;  Sergeant- Major,  Jarvis  Paine  ; 
seven  Captains. 

19.  COLONEL  CHARLES  ESSEX'S  REGIMENT  :    Colonel,   Charles    Essex  (killed  at 

Edgehill,  Oct.  1642) ;  Lieut.-Colonel,  Adam  Cunningham  (killed,  June  1644) ; 

Sergeant- Major, ;   seven  Captains, — one  of  whom  is  the  Colonel's 

father,  Sir  William  Essex. 

20.  COLONEL  HAMPDEN'S  REGIMENT:  Colonel,  John  Ham pden  (M.P.  for  Bucks) ; 

Lieut.-Colonel,  — Wagstaff  ;  Sergeant-Major,  William  Berriff  ;  seven.  Captains, 
— one  of  whom  is  Richard  Ingoldsby.  The  Chaplain  is  William  Spurstow. 

HORSE  =  TOTAL  ABOUT  5000. 

The  Horse  consisted  of  75  troops  of  HORSE,  each  of  60  mounted 
men ;  besides  5  troops  of  DRAGOONS,  each  of  100  men.  There 
were  six  Colonels  of  Horse,  and  one  Colonel  of  Dragoons,  each  with 


1642.] 


THE  PARLIAMENTARIAN   ARMY. 


445 


a  Major.  The  six  Colonels  of  Horse  were  the  Earl  of  Bedford, 
General  of  Horse;  Sir  William  Balfour,  Lieut. -General  (whose 
Major-General  was  his  somewhat  noted  fellow-Scot,  John  Urry,  or 
Hurry);  Basil,  Lord  Fielding;  Lord  Willoughby  of  Parham ;  Sir 
William  Waller,  Knt.  (M.P.  for  Andover) ;  and  Edwin  Sandys 
(mortally  wounded  in  a  skirmish,  Sept.  1642).  The  Colonel  of 
Dragoons  was  John  Browne  (M.P.  for  Dorsetshire).  Under  these 
Colonels  and  their  Majors  were  the  individual  troops  of  Horse,  each 
with  its  Captain,  Lieutenant,  and  Cornet  The  following  is  a  list 
of  the  Captains  of  all  the  troops  : l— 

75  TROOPS  OP  HORSB. 


1.  The  Lord-General  of  Horse.  29. 

2.  Sir  William  Balfour :  his  Lieutenant 

is  John  Meldrum,  a  Scotsman.  30. 

3.  Lord    Grey  of  Groby    (M.P.    for 

Leicester).  31. 

4.  The  Earl  of  Peterborough.  32. 

<count  Saye  and  Sole.  33. 

6.  Lord  Brooke.    In  this  troop  Robert 

Lilburne    is    Cornet,  and    John  34. 
Okey  is  Quartermaster. 

7.  Lord  Hastings.  36. 

8.  Lord  St.  John  (killed  at  Edgehill, 

Oct.   1642).     The  Lieutentint  in  37. 

this    troop    is    a     Manna  duke  38. 

Cooper ;  and  the  Cornet  is  Oliver  39. 

Cromwell     junior,      Cromwell's  40. 

eldest  son  (killed  before  1644).  41. 

9.  Lord  Stamford.  42. 

10.  Lord  Fielding.  43. 

11.  Lord  Wharton. 

12.  Lord  Willoughby  of  Parham.  44. 

13.  Lord  Grey  of  Work. 

14.  James  Sheffield  (son  of  the  Earl  of  45. 

Mulgrave).  46. 

15.  Sir    William    Waller,    M.P.      His 

Lieutenant    is    Richard   Newde-  47. 

gate,    and     his     f'ornet     Fulk  48. 

Greville.  49. 

16.  John  Gunter  (afterwards  Colonel,  50. 

and  killed  at  Chalgrove  Field,  51. 
.1  uno  1643). 

17.  William  Pretty.  52. 

18.  Robert  Burncll.  53. 

19.  Francis  Duwutt.  54. 

20.  James  Temple.  55. 
•_'l.  John  Bird. 

1TJ.    Matthew  Draper.  56. 
Dymock. 

24.  Horatio  Carey. 

25.  John  Alurod  (M.P.   for   Heydon,  57. 

Yorkshire).  58. 

26.  John  Neal.  59. 

27.  John  Hammond. 

28.  K                                                ward,  60. 

M.I',  fur  Lincolnshire).  61. 


Alexander  Pym  (one  of  Pym's 
loot). 

John  Hotham  (M.P.  for  Scar- 
borough). 

Arthur  Evelyn. 

George  Thomson. 

Edwin  Sandys  (mortally  wounded 
Sept.  1642). 

Anthony  Mildmay. 

Edwin  Kyghley. 

The  Hon.  Nathaniel  Fiennea  (M.P. 
for  Banbury). 

Edward  Berry. 

Alexander  Douglas. 

Thomas  Lidcott. 

Thomas  Hammond. 

John  Dal  bier. 

Francis  Fiennea. 

Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  Bart.  (M.P. 
for  Leicestershire). 

Sir  Walter  Earle,  Kut.  (M.P.  for 
Weymouth). 

John  Fleming. 

Arthur  Goodwin  (M.P.  for  Bucks, 
Hampden's  colleague). 

Richard  Grenviile. 

Thomas  Terrill. 

John  Hale. 

H.  Mildmay. 

W.  Balfour  (U  son  of  the  Lieut.. 
General). 

Otorg'o  Austin. 

Adrian  Scroope. 

Hercules  Langrich. 

Edward  Wingate  (M.P.  for  St. 
Albans). 

Edward  Baynton  (?  N/Y  Edward 
Baynton,  M.P.  for  Chi j»i •en- 
ham). 

Charles  Chichester. 

Henry  Ireton  (a  lawyer,  atnl.  32). 

Walter  Long  (M.P.  for  Ludgers- 
hall.  Wilt*). 

Hon.  John  Kiunnea. 

Francis  Thorn i>«on. 


1  The  authority  is  the  pamphlet  already  cited,  where  all  the  officers'  names, 
down  t»  the  <'<>rnotM,  are  given. 


446 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 


62.  Edmund  West. 

63.  Sir   Robert   Pye,    Knt.   (M.P.   for 

Woodstock). 

64.  Thomas  Hatcher  (M.P.  for  Stam- 

ford). 

65.  Robert  Vivers. 

66.  William  Anselme. 

67.  OLIVER  CROMWELL  (M.P.  for  Cam- 

bridge).   His  Lieutenant  is  Cuth- 
bert  Baildon,  his  Cornet  Joseph 


Waterhouse,    and    his    Quarter- 
master John  Desborough. 

68.  Robert  Kirle. 

69.  William  Wray. 

70.  William  Pretty  (secundus  or  junior). 

71.  Sir  John  Sanders. 

72.  Thomas  Temple. 

73.  Valentine  Walton  (M.P.  for  Hunts). 

74.  Sir  Faithful  Fortescue. 

75.  Simon  Rugeley. 


DRAGOONS  :  5  TROOPS. 


1.  Sir  John  Browne. 

2.  Robert  Mewer  (?  Muir,  and  a  Scots- 

man). 

3.  William  Buchan  (?  a  Scot). 


4.  Sir  Anthony  Irby,  Knt.  (M.P.  for 

Boston). 

5.  James  Wandloe. 


II. — FORCES  OF  THE  CITY  OF  LONDON  AND  SUBURBS  :   TRAINED 
BANDS  AND  AUXILIARIES*. 


GENERAL:  "The  Right  Worshipful  Philip  Skippon,  Esq.,  Major-General  of  all 
' '  the  Forces  of  the  City  of  London,  one  'of  the  Committee  for  the  Militia,  and 
"  Captain  of  that  ancient  and  worthy  Society  exercising  arms  in  the  Artillery  - 
"  Garden  of  the  same  City." 


1.  Six  REGIMENTS  OF  CITY  TRAINED  BANDS. 


Names  of  Regiments,  &c. 

IST,  OR  RED  REGIMENT 
(limits,  Aldgate,  Mark 
Lane,  Tower  Street,  Bil- 
lingsgate). 

2ND,  OR  WHITE  REGIMENT 
(limits,  Cornhill,  Lom- 
bard Street,  Fenchurch 
Street,  the  upper  part  of 
Gracechurch  Street). 


Officers. 

Colonel,  Alderman  Atkins  ;  Lieut. - 
Colonel,  Captain  Royden;  Major, 
—  Mannering  (who  had  "a  shop 
in  _Cheapside,  near  Ironmonger 
Lane") ;  4  Captains. 

Colonel,  Alderman  Isaac  Penning- 
toiijM.P. ;  Lieut. -Colonel,  George 
Langham  ;  Major,  Robert  Davies 
("a  slopmaker  for  seamen  near 
Billingsgate  ") ;  5  Captains. 


Estimated 

Numbers  in 

Sept.  1643. 

1,000 


1,190 

(of  whom  600 
"muskets," 
520  "pikes," 
and  70  super- 
numeraries). 


1  My  information  about  this  very  in- 
teresting portion  of  the  general  army 
of  the  Parliament  is  derived  from  three 
sources  :  —  (1)  A  Tract  in  the  British 


Museum 


date   1642, 


and  "printed  for  Henry  Overton," 
entitled  '  '  A  List  of  the  Names  of  the 
several  Colonels,  and  their  Colours,  with 
the  Lieut.  -Cols.,  Sergeant-Majors,  and 
Captains  and  Lieutenants,  appointed 
by  the  Committee  for  the  ordering  of 
the  City  of  London  "  ;  (2)  Another  and 
better  fly-sheet  in  the  Museum,  dated 
1642,  "printed  for  Richard  Thrale," 
and  entitled  "The  Names,  Dignities, 
and  Places  of  all  the  Collonells,  Lieut.  - 
Collonels,  Sergeant-Majors,  Captains, 


Quartermasters,  Lieutenants,  and  En- 
signs of  the  City  of  London "  ;  (3)  A 
Manuscript  in  the  British  Museum 
(Harl.  986)  written  by  Richard  Symons, 
a  Royalist,  containing  "The  Ensigns  of 
the  Regiments  in  the  City  of  London, 
both  of  the  Trayned  Bands  and  Auxili- 
aries :  together  with  the  nearest  num- 
ber of  their  trayned  soldiers,  taken  as 
they  marched  into  Finsbury  Fields, 
being  their  last  general  muster  :  Tues- 
day, Sept.  26,  1643 :  anno  pestifene 
Rebellionis."  In  this  MS.,  whose  de- 
scription is  later  by  a  year  than  that  of 
the  two  printed  tracts,  the  writer  has 
jotted  down,  in  contempt  and  malevo- 
lence, curious  particulars  as  to  the 
occupations  and  antecedents  of  some 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  city-soldiery. 


1642.]  1IIK  PARLIAMENT. Mil  AN  ARMY  447 

Estimated 
Nairn-*  of  Regiment*,  Ac.  Officers.  Numbers 

in  Sept  1643. 

>R  YELLOW  REGIMENT,       i',,i,,,,,l.     AMerman     Wollaston ;  1,024 

(limits,     Cheapside,    St.  .  -'  '••/•,««/,  John  Venn  (M.P. 

I'iiul's  I'hurehyurd,  |>art  f<>r  London);  Major,  —  Bradley; 

of  Watlinj;  Street,  jwirt  1  ''<t^ainf,  of  whom  one  is  "a 

\  cwgate  Market,  Lud-  grocer  "  and  two  are  "  woollen- 

gate,  Bluekfriars,  Ac.  drapers."    Among  the  Ensigns 

is  a  "Ralph  Woodcock." 

4rn.  OR  BLUB  REGIMENT.          Colonel,  Alderman  Adams  ;  Lieut.-  1,000 

Colonel,  Edmund  Foster ;  Major, 
—  Carlton  ;  4  Captain*. 

5TH,  OR  GREEN  REGIMENT.       Colonel,  Alderman  Warner ;  Lieut.-  836 

Colonel,  Captain  Co  veil ;  Major, 
Matthew  Foster ;  3  Captains. 

6TH,  OR  ORANGE  REGIMENT.       Colonel,  Alderman  Towes  ;  Lieut.-  1,101 

Colonel,       Rowland      Wilston  ; 
Major,  —  Geere  ;  3  Captaitu.1 

Total  of  City  Trained  Bands    ....  6,178 

2.  ADDITIONS  FROM  THE  SUBURBS. 

TOWKK  HAMLETS  REGIMENT 1,304 

WESTMINSTER  REGIMENT 2,018 

SOUTHWARK  REGIMENT 1,394 

Total  of  Suburban  Bands 4,716 


Green  Regiment  . 
White  Regiment  , 

Regiment  . 

Yellow  Regiment , 
Red  Regiment .    , 
Blue  Regiment 
Orange  Regiment 


Total  of  all  Trained  Bands     ....     10,894 

3.  AUXILIARIES  (VOLUNTEERS?). 

,200 
,000 
,000 
,000 
,000 
,000 
,000 

Total  of  Auxiliaries 7,200 


IIL — FAIRFAX'S  ARMY  IN  THE  NORTH. 

Shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  war  (not  till  Nov.  1642, 
«er),  the  Parliament,  in  order  more  effectually  to  counteract 
the  Earls  of  Newcastle  and  Cumberland,  commanding  separately 
for  the  King  in  the  north,  caused  a  commission  to  be  made  out, 
appointing  Lord  Ferdinando  Fairfax  (M.P.  for  Yorkshire)  to  be 
Parliamentarian  General-in-Chief  for  Yorkshire  and  the  adjacent 
counties.  This  Lord  Fairfax,  who  was  the  Parliamentarian  of 

1  I  liavi-  not  continued  my  note*  from  another,  a  Lirnt.-Cot..{Jut  "a  skinner  in 

to  tin-  occupation-  Southwark";  and  a  Major  as  "a  soap- 

of  tho  otliccr-  «f  the   la.-t   three  regi-  boiler  in  Southwark." — Some  of  these 
merit*;  l-ut   I  tin<!  i.  -men  turned  out  good  and  brave 

described  as  "a  stiller  of  strong  waters  officers. 
in  St.  Mary  at  Hill  Road,  Billing*^,  • 


448  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

greatest  influence  in  the  north,  was  sbout  sixty  years  of  age ;  but 
he  had  for  his  General  of  Horse  and  assistant  in  command  his  son 
and  heir,  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  who,  though  hardly  past  thirty,  was 
a  trained  soldier, — having  served  in  the  Low  Countries  under  Horatio, 
Lord  Vere,  whose  daughter  he  had  married  on  returning  home.  The 
two  Fairfaxes,  father  and  son,  under  whom  Sir  John  Hotham  and 
his  son  were  also  prominent  men,  had  speedily  an  army  of  about 
6000  horse  and  foot,  with  which  they  maintained  the  Parliamentary 
cause  in  the  north  as  substitutes  there  for  Essex.1 

In  the  officering  of  both  armies  at  the  outset,  it  is  easy  to 
see,  two  principles  were  observed.  Commands  were  given  to 
the  men  of  greatest  rank  and  influence  on  either  side  that 
were  willing  to  take  them  ;  but,  cceteris  paribus,  a  preference 
was  shown  to  those  who,  as  having  already  had  military 
experience,  were  supposed  to  be  fittest  to  lead.  Some  care 
seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  taken  on  both  sides  to  bring  in 
whatever  of  already  trained  military  talent  was  to  be  had. 
The  commanders-in-chief  on  both  sides  were  noblemen  in 
whom  high  rank  and  professional  experience  in  arms  were 
united.2  On  both  sides,  whether  among  the  lieutenant- 
colonels  or  majors  of  regiments,  or  among  those  in  higher  posts 
who  would  practically  have  most  to  do  in  advising  and  assist- 
ing the  commander-in-chief,  we  find  the  names  of  known 
professional  soldiers,  Scottish,  Irish,  and  Dutch,  as  well  as 
English ;  and,  though  great  noblemen,  and  wealthy  knights 
and  baronets,  who  can  have  had  no  previous  training  in 
arms,  are  mingled  with  these  in  large  proportion,  it  is  gener- 
ally in  posts  where  their  duties  may  have  been  honorary 
until  they  had  learnt  something  of  the  real  business.  The 
natural  post,  in  either  army,  for  an  energetic  peer,  or  an 
energetic  knight  or  squire  of  the  Commons  House,  if  he  came 
to  the  work  rather  from  goodwill  than  from  previous  practice 
in  soldiering,  seems  to  have  been  the  colonelcy  (honorary)  of 
a  foot-regiment,  where  he  might  leave  things  to  the  acting 
lieutenant-colonel  and  the  sergeant-major,  or  the  captaincy 
of  a  troop  of  horse,  where  he  might  hope  sooner  to  acquire  a 

1  Clar.  Hist.  346,  and  Wood's  Fasti,       rades    in    the    Low   Countries :    Clar. 
II.  148,  149.  Hist.  307. 

2  They  had  served  together  as  com- 


1642.J  OFFICERS  OF  THE  TWO  ARMIES.  449 

knowledge  of  his  work.  It  was  in  the  latter  post  that  Oliver 
Cromwell,  at  the  age  of  forty-three,  began  his  career  in  the 
Parliamentary  army.  There  were  more  than  a  dozen  of  his 
colleagues  in  the  Commons  who  were  also  only  captains  of 
horse-troops,  though  one  or  two  took  colonelcies  of  horse  or 
of  dragoons  at  once,  and  one  or  two  more,  like  several  peers, 
conjoined  captaincies  of  horse  with  honorary  colonelcies  of  foot. 
Hampden,  Denzil  Holies,  and  others  of  the  eminent  Parlia- 
mentarians, and  Bellasis,  Endyinion  Porter,  and  others  of  the 
recent  M.P.'s  of  the  King's  side,  began  as  colonels  of  foot- 
regiments. 

Now,  on  the  whole,  what  strikes  one  in  studying  the 
history  of  the  war  is  the  apparent  non  -  preponderance  of 
already  trained  military  efficacy  on  either  side.  It  seems 
to  be  the  opinion  of  competent  military  critics  that  there 
were  moments  in  the  first  months  of  the  war  when  first- 
rate  generalship  on  either  side  might  have  brought  matters 
to  a  swift  conclusion.  As  it  was,  with  all  the  welding  of 
supposed  professional  experience,  English,  Scotch,  Irish, 
and  Dutch,  into  the  systems  of  the  two  armies  at  the  outset, 
with  all  the  show  of  Gustavus-Adolphus  men  on  the  one 
side  to  match  and  overcrow  Gustavus-Adolphus  men  on  the 
other,  the  English  Civil  War  had  to  breed  for  itself,  out  of 
native  stuff,  the  soldiers  that  were  to  conclude  it.  On  the 
Parliamentarian  side,  in  particular,  the  very  course  of  affaire 
consisted  in  a  gradual  education  of  all  concerned,  bringing 
gradually  to  the  front  the  men  that  were  to  displace  the 
first  commanders  and  take  the  war  into  their  own  hands. 
Essex,  respected  nobleman  though  he  was,  and  so  popular  at 
first  with  the  men  that,  as  he  rode  along  their  ranks,  they 
would  throw  up  their  caps  and  cry  "  Hey  for  Old  liobin  !  "  l 
soon  proved  himself  one  of  the  heaviest  of  generals.  It  was 
the  same  with  not  a  few  of  his  associates  and  successors  from 
whom  better  things  were  expected.  When  the  heaven-born 
leaders  did  appear,  they  were  found  largely  among  men  who 
had  jnincil  tin-  army  with  im  military  experience  of  a  special 
kind  artjuiivd  hy  previous  service,  but  whose  natural  apti- 

»  Wbitlocko,  I.  191. 
VOL.  II  2  G 


450  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

tude  for  command  had  been  proved  in  the  school  of  their  first 
training.  One  might  speculate  on  what  might  have  become 
of  the  "John  Gunter"  mentioned  in  our  list  as  captain 
of  the  horse-troop  No.  1 6  in  the  Parliamentary  army,  had 
he  lived  to  see  the  war  through.  He  was  "  looked  upon," 
says  Clarendon,  "  as  the  best  officer  of  horse  they  had,  and  a 
"  man  of  known  malice  to  the  government  of  the  Church, 
"  which  had  drawn  some  severe  censure  upon  him  before 
"  the  troubles,  and  for  which  he  had  still  meditated  revenge." 
But  this  otherwise  all  but  unknown  Gunter  met  his  death, 
when  he  had  attained  colonel's  rank,1  in  the  same  action, 
early  in  the  war,  in  which  Hampden  was  mortally  wounded 
(Chalgrove  Field,  June  1643).  Without  vain  conjecture, 
therefore,  over  this  and  similar  cases,  one  may  turn,  for  the 
best  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  the  real  native  military 
genius  latent  in  the  Parliamentary  army  was  training  itself 
for  ultimate  success,  to  the  case,  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Of  extraordinary  reputation  for  zeal  and  practical  energy, 
and  latterly,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  very  highest  influence  in 
Parliament,  Cromwell  was  now,  in  his  mature  life,  a  captain 
of  Horse  Volunteers.  From  the  moment  of  his  assuming 
this  command  he  had  thrown  his  whole  soul  into  it.  He  had 
worked  hard  at  the  mechanical  part  of  his  duty,  in  drilling 
his  men  and  learning  how  to  drill  them,  taking  lessons  in 
the  art  from  the  Dutchman  Dalbier.2  But  he  had,  from  the 
first  also,  a  singular  notion  as  to  how  one  might  succeed  as 
a  military  officer.  He  had  a  notion  that  an  officer  should 
pick  his  men,  and  pick  them  on  a  definite  principle.  "  He 
"  had  a  brave  regiment  of  horse,  of  his  countrymen,"  says 
Whitlocke,  speaking  of  Cromwell,  when  he  had  just  risen 
to  be  colonel,  "most  of  them  freeholders  and  freeholders' 
"  sons,  and  who  upon  matter  of  conscience  engaged  in  this 
"  quarrel,  and  under  Cromwell.  And  thus,  being  well  armed 
"  within  by  the  satisfaction  of  their  own  consciences,  and 
"  without  by  good  iron  arms,  they  would,  as  one  man,  stand 
"  firmly  and  charge  desperately."  3  It  must  have  been  with  a 

1  Whitlocke      makes       him       only          2  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  I.  198. 
"  Major :  "  I.  204.  3  Whitlocke,  I.  209. 


1642.]     OFFICERS  OK  THK  TWO  ARMIES  :    CAPT.  CROMWELL.      451 

view  to  this  double  qualification  of  his  men,  as  not  only 
well  armed  and  well  drilled,  but  also  of  the  right  sort  indi- 
vidually, that  Cromwell  himself,  writing  to  his  kinsman 
St.  John,  in  Sept.  1643,  used  these  words:  "My  troops 
"  increase.  /  have  a  lovely  company ;  you  would  respect 
"  them  did  you  know  them."  If  these  words  do  not  go  to  a 
Volunteer  captain's  heart  of  the  present  day,  that  captain 
has  a  lesson  to  learn.  At  a  much  later  period,  we  have 
Cromwell's  own  most  memorable  summing-up  on  this  head, 
in  that  famous  passage  of  one  of  his  speeches  in  which, 
when  Protector,  he  expounded  the  chief  secret  of  his 
military  success.  "  I  was  a  person,"  he  there  says,  "  who, 
"  from  my  first  employment,  was  suddenly  preferred  and 
"  lifted  up  from  lesser  trusts  to  greater,  from  my  first  being 
"  a  captain  of  a  troop  of  horse,  and  did  labour  as  well  as  I 
"  could  to  discharge  my  trust ;  and  God  blessed  me  as  it 
"  pleased  Him.  And  I  did  truly  and  plainly, — and  in  a 
"  way  of  foolish  simplicity,  as  it  was  judged  by  very  great 
"  and  wise  men,  and  good  men  too, — desire  to  make  my 
"  instruments  help  me  in  that  work.  And  1  will  deal 
"  plainly  with  you  :  I  had  a  very  worthy  friend  then ;  and 
"  he  was  a  very  noble  person,  and  I  know  his  memory  is 
"  very  grateful  to  all, — Mr.  John  Hampden.  At  my  first 
"  going  out  into  this  engagement,  I  saw  our  men  were 
"  beaten  at  every  hand.  I  did  indeed ;  and  desired  him 
"  that  he  would  make  some  additions  to  my  Lord  Essex's 
"  army  of  some  new  regiments;  and  I  told  him  1  would 
"  be  serviceable  to  him  in  bringing  such  men  in  as  1  thought 
luid  a  spirit  that  would  do  something  in  the  work.  This 
"  is  veiy  true  that  I  tell  you  ;  God  knows  I  lie  not.  '  Your 
"  *  troops/  said  I,  '  are  most  of  them  old  decayed  serving- 
"  '  men,  and  tapsters,  and  such  kind  of  fellows ;  and,'  said  I, 
'  f/ifir  troops  are  gentlemen's  sons,  younger  sons  and 
'  persons  of  quality :  do  you  think  that  the  spirits  of  such 
"'base  and  mraii  I'dlnus  will  ever  be  able  to  encounter 
"  '  gentlemen,  that  liuvc  honour  and  courage  and  resolution 
in  them  ?'  Truly  I  did  represent  to  him  in  this  manner 
"  conscientiously ;  and  truly  I  did  tell  him :  '  You  must 


452  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOEY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  '  get  men  of  a  spirit ;  and,  take  it  not  ill  what  I  say, — I 
"  '  know  you  will  not, — of  a  spirit  that  is  likely  to  go  on  as 
"  '  far  as  gentlemen  will  go :  or  else  you  will  be  beaten 
"  '  still.'  I  told  him  so  ;  I  did  truly.  He  was  a  wise  and 
"  worthy  person ;  and  he  did  think  that  I  talked  a  good 
"  notion,  but  an  impracticable  one.  Truly  I  told  him  I 
"  could  do  somewhat  in  it."  * 

In  this  passage  we  have  not  only  a  principle  in  the 
philosophy  of  armies  which  will  hold  true  to  the  end  of 
time,  but  also,  as  in  a  flash  of  light,  a  resumd  of  the  whole 
history  of  the  English  Civil  War.  The  progress  of  the 
Parliamentarians  towards  victory  consisted  in  the  gradual 
extension  of  Cromwell's  principle,  which  even  Hampden 
thought  visionary,  to  more  and  more  of  the  Parliamentary 
army,  until  the  whole  was  leavened  by  it.  As  the  principle, 
however,  remained  Cromwell's  own,  this  process  of  the 
gradual  dynamizing  of  the  Parliamentary  army  into  the  mood 
of  certain  victory  is  to  be  conceived  as  keeping  pace,  step 
by  step,  with  his  personal  promotion. 

We  have  not  been  anticipating  in  all  this.  As  we  cannot 
relate  the  events  of  the  Civil  War  in  detail,  it  is  the  more 
necessary  to  take  any  opportunity  that  may  occur  of  ex- 
pressing the  essence  of  them  in  a  generalization.  Let  the 
reader,  therefore,  hover  for  a  moment  in  imagination  over 
the  two  armies,  as  we  have  been  able  to  tabulate  their  states 
at  the  outset,  i.e.  in  Sept.,  Oct.,  and  Nov.  1642.  But  only 
for  a  moment.  Even  as  he  gazes  down  upon  the  two 
armies  so  represented,  they  are  in  flux  and  motion.  Deaths 
are  occurring  in  them,  deaths  by  shot  and  by  sword ; 
prisoners  are  being  taken  on  both  sides  and  placed  hors 
de  combat;  captains  are  becoming  colonels,  colonels  are 
rising  into  general  commands,  and  subalterns  are  moving 
up  to  captaincies ;  nay,  new  masses  of  recruits  are  being 
attached  ever  and  anon  to  both  armies,  to  repair  losses,  or 
to  swell  the  numbers  ;  and  these  bring  with  them,  of  course, 
new  officers,  who  are  to  distinguish  themselves  more  or  less. 
Of  some  of  those  additions  and  modifications,  whether  in 

1  Speech,  April  13,  1657  :  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  III.  249-50. 


1-M-J  1  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  WAR,  453 

the  general  bodies,  or  in  particular  persons,  we  shall  hear 
in  time.  Meanwhile,  whatever  persons  of  military  conse- 
quence, on  either  side,  the  reader  may  keep  in  view, 
trying  to  discern  their  figures  through  the  mist,  let  him 
expect  the  emergence  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 


FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  WAR:    BATTLE  OF  EDGEHILL — KING'S 
ADVANCE  ON  LONDON THE  MARCH  TO  TURNHAM  GREEN. 

At  the  moment  of  the  raising  of  the  King's  standard  at 
Nottingham  (August  22),  neither  army  was  in  the  full  state 
just  represented.  The  King's  levies,  according  to  Clarendon, 
were  much  the  less  forward  ;  so  that,  if  Essex's  army,  which 
had  its  head-quarters  then  at  Northampton,  some  sixty  miles 
off  and  between  the  King  and  London,  had  made  a  sudden 
move  northwards,  the  King  and  his  small  force,  including 
Rupert's  cavalry,  might  have  been  whelmed  into  ruin.  To 
gain  time,  in  these  circumstances,  the  King  consented  to  a 
mock  negotiation,  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  with  Cole- 
pepper  and  Falkland,  came  up  to  London  on  the  business. 
Nothing  came  of  it,  or  could  come  of  it ;  and  the  King,  his 
object  having  been  gained,  made  a  westward  movement 
towards  the  Welsh  borders,  in  expectation  of  such  forces 
and  supplies  there  as  might  enable  him  to  assume  the 
aggressive.  There  was  some  doubt  whether  he  should  go 
to  Chester  or  to  Shrewsbury  ;  but  he  resolved  on  Shrewsbury. 
He  arrived  there  Sept  20,  and  had  a  splendid  reception 
among  t)»e  Royalists  of  those  parts.  To  check  him,  Essex 
lifted  his  army  from  Northampton  to  take  it  to  Worcester, 
about  forty  miles  south-east  from  Shrewsbury,  and  rather 
in  the  line  between  it  and  London.  Why  he  did  not  do 
more,  why  he  did  not  march  upon  the  King  and  crush  him, 
was  still  the  question  among  Parliamentarian  critics  sitting 
at  home.  It  may  be  that  people  at  large  in  such  cases 
expect  things  which  military  men  know  cannot  be  done; 
but  partly  it  may  be  that  Essex  was  really  a  heavy  strate- 
gist, ami  HIM)  illy  unready  to  fight  the  King  while  a  chance 


454  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  peace  was  left.  But  on  the  other  side  there  was  greater 
alacrity.  Eupert  and  his  Cavaliers  were  out  on  the  dash 
through  the  country  between  Shrewsbury  and  Worcester ; 
and  what  was  the  consternation  among  the  Parliamentarians 
when  the  news  spread  that  in  a  skirmish,  quite  close  to 
Worcester,  between  Eupert  and  an  advanced  body  of  Parlia- 
mentarian horse  under  Colonel  Sandys,  the  latter  were 
thoroughly  beaten,  poor  Sandys  mortally  wounded,  and  not 
a  few  prisoners  taken  ?  So,  in  this  first  action  of  the  main 
war, — called  the  Fight  of  Powick  Bridge  (Sept.  22), — the 
success  had  been  for  the  King.  It  helped  him  greatly,  and 
heartened  those  around  him.  Troops  for  him  poured  in 
from  the  Welsh  and  western  counties ;  plate  and  supplies 
came  in ;  an  understanding  was  come  to  with  wealthy 
Roman  Catholics  in  those  parts,  on  the  faith  of  which  they 
advanced  money ;  one  gentleman,  anxious  to  be  made  a 
baron,  obtained  his  wish  for  GOOD/.  :  all  was  so  hopeful  in 
the  King's  quarters  that  the  cry  arose  for  a  direct  and 
swift  march  upon  London,  leaving  Essex  behind  or  beating 
him  on  the  way.  The  alarm  of  this  reached  London, 
rousing  Parliament  to  all  sorts  of  orders  about  the  calling 
out  of  Trained  Bands  and  Volunteers,  and  the  erecting  of 
guard-houses,  with  posts,  bars,  and  chains,  in  different 
streets  and  by-lanes  in  the  City  parishes  and  in  West- 
minster. Meanwhile,  after  proclamations  of  the  King  to  his 
army  and  of  Essex  to  his,  declarations  of  the  King  to  his 
loyal  subjects,  and  even  another  small  attempt  at  negotia- 
tion,— this  time  on  Essex's  part, — the  King  had  begun  his 
march  from  Shrewsbury  (Oct.  2).  By  Bridgenorth,  Wolver- 
hampton,  Birmingham,  and  Kenilworth,  he  had  got  as  far 
as  the  border  of  Warwickshire  towards  Oxfordshire,  when 
Essex,  who  had  left  Worcester  to  intercept  him,  brought 
him  to  a  stop.  There  ensued  (Sunday,  Oct.  23)  the  BATTLE 
OF  EDGEHILL,  called  also  the  Fight  of  Keinton,  as  having 
been  fought  near  that  village  in  South  Warwickshire.  It 
was  a  battle  claimed  by  both  sides,  or  in  which,  as  Whit- 
locke  phrases  it,  "  the  Parliament  had  a  great  deliverance 
and  a  small  victory."  The  slain  on  both  sides  together 


:»>42.]  BATTLE  OF  EDGEHILL.  455 

were  calculated  at  5,000.  Among  these  were,  on  the  King's 
side,  the  Earl  of  Lindsey,  commander-in-chief,  Lord  Aubi^ny 
(brother  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond  and  Lord  Bernard  Stewart), 
and  the  Royal  standard-bearer,  Sir  Edmund  Verney.  On  the 
side  of  Parliament  there  fell  Lord  St.  John  of  Bletsho  and 
Colonel  Essex.1 

It  was  not  till  after  a  day  or  two  that  accurate  news  of  the 
battle  reached  London.  There,  meantime,  knowing  of  the 
King's  approach,  but  not  knowing  whether  Essex  might  be 
able  to  prevent  him,  the  Parliament  had  made  the  Earl  of 
Warwick  captain-general  for  the  defence  of  the  city,  and  had 
ordered  the  shops  to  be  closed,  and  all  stables  searched  for 
horses.  When  the  correct  news  of  the  battle  did  arrive, 
great  was  the  relief.  It  was  treated  as  a  victory,  and  speeches 
in  that  sense  were  made  at  Guildhall.  In  fact,  the  battle 
did  stop  the  King's  army  for  the  time  in  its  intended 
approach  to  the  metropolis,  although  Oxford,  where  it  took 
up  its  quarters  after  the  battle,  was  considerably  nearer  to 
London  than  was  the  place  where  the  battle  had  been  fought. 
But  the  notion  of  a  march  upon  London  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  King  and  of  his  chief  advisers,  especially 
Rupert;  and,  accordingly,  after  a  little  stay  of  the  King 
at  Oxford,  the  Londoners  began  to  see  an  ugly  meaning 
in  Rupert's  raids  with  his  horse  out  of  Oxford,  as  if 
fingering  towards  London.  In  one  of  these  raids  Reading 
came  into  the  King's  hands;  and,  when  he  removed 
thither  himself,  instead  of  merely  putting  a  garrison  in 
it,  matters  looked  still  more  ominous.  It  was  something, 
indeed,  that  Essex,  who  had  quartered  himself  at  War- 
wick after  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  was  now  in  London  to 
superintend  arrangements.  But  there  was  great  alarm  ;  and 
among  the  citizens  there  was  a  vehement  party,  headed  by 
one  Mr.  Shute,  who,  while  refraining  from  any  disrespect 
to  Essex,  did  not  hesitate  to  complain  of  general  mismanage- 
ment and  want  of  energy  among  the  Parliamentarian 
officers.  There  was  a  strong  appeal  on  all  hands  for 

i  Clar.  307—312;  WhitUke,  I.  184-7;  Rush  worth,  V.  23—89;  Purl.  Hi  '    II 
MM    1504 


456  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Volunteers  ;  London  apprentices  were  released  from  their 
bonds  for  the  time,  that  they  might  recruit  the  ranks ;  and 
Skippon,  as  city  major-general,  was  in  his  glory.  All 
London  was  astir.  And  it  was  high  time.  The  King  was 
pushing  on,  adjourning  the  negotiations  for  which  Parlia- 
ment had  again  petitioned  till  he  should  be  nearer  London. 
On  the  9th  of  November,  when  Essex  was  receiving  the 
thanks  of  both  Houses,  and  5,0 OOZ.  from  the  Commons,  for 
his  conduct  at  Edgehill,  the  King  was  at  Colnbrook,  seven- 
teen miles  from  London,  with  his  army  all  round  him,  part 
at  Staines,  part  at  Milton's  old  residence  of  Horton,  &c. 
Here,  again  petitioned  by  a  Parliamentary  deputation  for 
negotiation  through  commissioners,  he  seemed  to  agree,  and 
sent  a  free-conduct  to  certain  persons  that  were  to  treat  with 
him.  But  scarcely  had  the  Parliamentary  deputation  re- 
turned to  London  with  this  message  (Nov.  11)  when  the  King, 
following  Eupert's  advice,  who  longed  to  be  in  among  the 
rascally  Londoners,  and  had  pressed  on  to  Hounslow,  resolved 
to  advance  to  Brentford,  some  seven  miles  only  from  London. 
His  plea  was  that  he  had  just  heard  that  part  of  the  Earl 
of  Essex's  army  had  been  drawn  out  of  London  towards 
Brentford.  This  act  on  the  Parliamentary  side  obliged, 
lie  said,  a  change  of  place  on  his ;  which,  however,  need  not 
interrupt  the  proposed  treaty,  if  the  Parliament  were  still 
in  earnest  about  it.  He  would  treat  at  Brentford  !  Before 
this  letter,  written  by  the  King  on  the  12th,  can  have 
reached  London,  its  purport  was  carried  thither  by  the 
boom  of  great  guns  heard  in  the  air.  They  were  the 
guns  used  in  the  action  by  which  Brentford  became  the 
King's.  The  small  Parliamentary  force  that  was  in  the 
town,  consisting  of  a  regiment  or  so  under  Colonel  Holies, 
had  barricaded  the  streets  before  the  King  came  up,  and 
behaved  stoutly ;  but,  though  Lord  Brooke  and  Hampden 
came  up  to  assist  them,  they  were  forced  to  retire  with  loss, 
and  on  the  night  between  Friday  the  llth  and  Saturday 
the  12th  of  November  the  King  entered  Brentford. 

The  effects  in  London  on  that    Saturday  were  terrific. 
There  was  one  burst  of  indignation  at  what  was  called  the 


Nov.  1642.]  THE  MARCH  TO  TURNHAM  GREEN.  457 

King's  treachery  in  advancing  stealthily  towards  London 
while  a  treaty  was  in  progress ;  there  was  a  hurry-skurry 
through  the  streets  in  expectation  every  hour  of  the  tramp 
of  Rupert's  horse  nearer  and  nearer  for  the  assault  of  the 
city  ;  in  thousands  of  households  there  was  fear  of  the 
bullets  that  might  soon  be  crashing  windows,  of  doors 
dashed  open,  Cavalier  soldiers  rushing  in,  and  the  spolia- 
tion of  goods.  Out  of  all  this  multitudinous  excitement 
there  emerged,  however,  a  most  creditable  display  of  courage 
and  discipline.  Essex  and  the  Parliament  having  consulted, 
and  Lord  Mayor  Pennington,  who  was  also  colonel  of  one 
of  the  chief  city-regiments,  having  bestirred  himself  among 
his  brother  officers  of  the  Trained  Bands,  the  right  course 
was  adopted.  London  sent  forth  her  Trained  Bands  and 
Volunteers  to  join  the  army  of  Essex  in  repelling  the  ex- 
pected assault  and  saving  the  city.  Before  the  night  of 
Saturday  the  12th  was  well  over,  and  all  through  the 
morning  of  Sunday  the  13th,  there  was  a  stream  of 
marching  men  on  the  great  road  west  out  of  London,  by 
Kensington  and  Hammersmith.  Conspicuous  in  the  stream 
was  Skippon,  riding  backwards  and  forwards  along  the 
column  of  his  own  Trained  Bauds,  and  addressing  short 
speeches,  now  to  this  company  and  now  to  that,  all  in  this 
strain  :  "  Come,  my  boys,  my  brave  boys,  let  us  pray  heartily, 
"  and  fight  heartily ;  remember  the  cause  is  for  God  and  for 
"  the  defence  of  yourselves,  your  wives,  and  children  ;  come, 
"  my  honest  brave  boys,  pray  heartily  and  fight  heartily,  and 
"  God  will  bless  us."  The  rendezvous  was  at  Turnham 
Green,  then  a  common,  about  two  miles  from  Brentford  ; 
and  there,  accordingly,  the  whole  little  army  of  Essex's 
regulars  and  the  Londoners,  to  the  number  of  24,000  in 
all,  stood  drawn  up  in  battalions  for  many  hours  on  Sunday 
the  13th,  facing  the  King's  somewhat  smaller  army  similarly 

drawn  up. It  was  a  day  and  a  night  long  remembered 

by  all  who  took  part ;  perhaps  not  the  less  comfortably  that 
there  was  no  battle  after  all.  The  Londoners,  indeed,  were 
in  high  spirits,  .l.-liu'litrd  with  Skippon,  and  calling  out  "  Hey 
for  O1<1  Ilnliin  !"  wherever  Essex  appeared;  and  there  were 


458  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

movements  and  feints  of  advance  on  both  sides, — on  each 
of  which  the  hundreds  of  horsemen  who  had  come  out  as 
mere  spectators  would  gallop  off  towards  London,  thinking 
the  battle  was  about  to  begin,  and  carrying  with  them,  it 
is  said,  soldiers,  in  sixes  and  sevens,  who  had  slunk  from 
their  colours.  But  Essex  and  the  old  Army-men  were  for 
letting  the  King  retire  if  he  chose  to  do  so ;  and,  much  to 
Eupert's  chagrin,  the  King  at  last  did  think  it  fit  to  retire. 
Back  through  Brentford  town  vanished  his  troops  and  ord- 
nance gradually,  all  in  retreat  to  Colnbrook  whence  they 
had  come,  and  taking  with  them  only  the  prisoners  captured 
in  the  attack  on  Brentford,  among  whom  was  Captain  John 
Lilburne.1  Then  there  was  such  a  scene  of  relief  and  ex- 
ultation among  the  Parliamentarians.  The  cartloads  of  pro- 
visions, beer  and  wines,  which  the  good  wives  of  London  had 
sent  out,  "  mindful  of  their  husbands  and  friends,"  were 
brought  into  requisition,  and  what  had  seemed  likely  to  be 
a  great  battle  ended  in  a  vast  picnic.  All  being  clearly 
safe,  Essex  at  last  dismissed  the  citizen-soldiers ;  who  re- 
turned, cheering  and  chatting  along  the  road,  to  London, 
to  sleep  in  their  own  beds  that  same  night.  The  whole 
incident  may  be  remembered  as  The  March  to  Turnham 
Green.2 


EVENTS    TILL    MIDSUMMER    1643  :     A    MAP-SKETCH. 

From  Colnbrook  the  King  backed  to  Reading  and  thence 
to  Oxford,  which  from  this  period  and  through  the  rest 
of  the  war  was  the  Royal  head-quarters.  Essex,  on  the 
other  hand,  satisfied  with  what  he  had  done,  went  into 
winter-quarters  at  Windsor,  thus  placing  himself  between 
the  King  and  London,  in  view  of  any  fresh  attempt  on 


1  Lilburne,  with  other  prisoners,  was       farther  exhibitions  of  his  unique  temper. 

terwards  tried  at  Oxford  before  Judge  2  My  authorities  for  the  account  of 

Heath,  acting-  for  the  King.     The  most       it,   and  for   this   paragraph  generally, 


stubborn  and  pugnacious  of  men,   he  are,  —  Rush  worth,  V.  52—  60  ;  Clar.  Hist. 

refused  to  plead  because  he  was  styled  317—320  ;  Parl.  Hist.  III.  1—15  ;  Whit- 

Yeoman  "  in  the  indictment.     Sued  locke,  I.  189—  193.     Whitlocke  is  more 

on  an  amended  indictment,  he  was  con-  graphic  than  usual   in   his  account  of 

demned    to    death  ;    but,    Parliament  the  Turnham  Green  march,    and   has 

threatening  retaliation,  hewas  spared,  for  supplied  particulars. 


Nov.  1642— June  1643.]       PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  459 

London  on  the  King's  part,  but  earnestly  hoping  that  the 
winter  months  would  bring  peace.  There  were  many  who 
shared  this  hope  with  Kssex,  and  had  indeed  expected  from 
the  first  that,  if  the  Civil  War  took  the  form  of  one  battle, 
that  would  be  all.  The  events  of  the  subsequent  winter, 
and  of  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  1643,  showed  the 
folly  of  such  hopes.  These  events  need  be  presented  here 
only  in  the  briefest  possible  summary. 

It  is  necessary  to  premise  that,  though  there  was  no  part 
of  England  in  which  there  were  not  actions,  skirmishes,  and 
plots,  or  at  least  armed  vigilance  of  Royalists  against  a 
minority  of  Parliamentarians,  or  of  Parliamentarians  against 
a  minority  of  Royalists,  yet,  partly  from  the  peculiar  geo- 
graphical massing  of  the  opposed  elements  at  the  commence- 
ment, and  partly  from  the  efforts  at  organization  made  on 
both  sides  during  the  winter,  the  real  strife  distributed 
itself  over  five  sections  of  the  country  (tending  to  become 
fewer),  while  two  other  sections  remained  comparatively 
exempt.  Parliamentarianism  being  strongest,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  the  eastern  counties  of  Lincoln,  Norfolk,  Suffolk, 
Essex,  Cambridge,  Herts,  Hunts,  and  Beds,  and  those 
counties,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  having  been  formed 
into  an  "  association "  under  Lord  Grey  of  Wark,  which 
was  extremely  well  managed, — this  whole  region  of  the 
Eastern  Counties,  the  virtual  capital  of  which  was  the  town 
of  Cambridge,  lay,  to  a  great  extent,  out  of  the  actual 
strife.  It  became  a  source  whence  the  Parliament  could 
derive  power  and  supplies,  not  requiring  to  be  re-expended 
on  the  producing  region  itself,  but  available  for  work  in 
other  parts  of  England.1  For  the  King  a  similar  function 
was  served  by  the  Welsh  Counties  in  mass,  and  some  parts 
of  the  English  counties  closest  to  the  Welsh  border.  In 
Cheshire  and  Shropshire,  indeed,  where  the  King  had  so 
1-  < . ntly  been  in  person,  and  which  he  had  left  apparently 
>ure  tnr  his  cause,  there  were  some  Parliamentarian  efforts. 
There  were  suoh  efforts  especially  in  Cln^hiiv.  when-  Sir 

1   F<T  dutail.s  of  the  management  "f       .-in- 1  <-f  rromwi-ll'x  jwrt  in  it,  see  Car- 
Eafttern    Counties  Association."       lylc'-  Cromwell,  I.  101— 110. 


460  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

William  Brereton,  one  of  the  members  for  the  county,  for- 
tified Nantwich  for  himself  and  his  friends,  and  made  it  a 
centre  of  operations.  But,  Sir  Nicholas  Byron  having  been 
sent  by  the  King  to  take  command  of  the  city  of  Chester,  and 
Lord  Capel  having  been  subsequently  sent  to  Shrewsbury, 
with  a  commission  as  lieutenant-general  for  the  King  in 
Shropshire,  Cheshire,  and  North  Wales,  Brereton  and  the 
Parliamentarians  were  kept  in  check.  The  result,  generally, 
was  that,  just  as  the  Eastern  Counties  and  their  northern 
fringes  were  the  assured  reservoir  of  strength  for  the  Parlia- 
ment, so  Wales  and  its  northern  fringes  were  the  assured 
reservoir  of  strength  for  the  King.  Between  these  two 
assured  regions,  however,  and  containing  the  two  eyes,  or 
advanced  stations,  whence  the  elements  massed  in  the  two 
respectively  gazed  across  the  map  at  each  other, — London, 
the  Parliamentarian  capital,  and  Oxford,  the  King's  head- 
quarters,— was  the  large  intermediate  region  of  the  Midland 
Counties  generally,  divisible  into  the  Northern  Midlands  of 
Staffordshire,  Derbyshire,  Nottinghamshire,  Leicestershire, 
Northamptonshire,  and  Warwickshire,  and  the  Southern 
Midlands  of  Bucks,  Berks,  and  Oxfordshire.  This,  then, 
was  one  great  battlefield,  or  sectional  theatre  of  the  general 
war.  It  may  be  called  the  main  or  central  theatre  ;  for  here 
it  was  that  the  King  in  person,  with  Rupert  and  the  Earl 
of  Forth,  was  in  conflict  more  particularly  with  the  strategy 
of  Essex  as  Parliamentary  general-in-chief.  But,  out  of  this 
region,  and  anxiously  surveyed  from  it,  there  were  four  others, 
which  were  the  theatres,  for  the  time,  of  military  operations 
carried  on  independently,  though  with  interconnexions  and  to 
one  end.  One  of  these  was  the  region  of  the  South-Eastern 
Counties,  including  Kent,  Surrey,  Sussex,  and  Hants  ;  another 
was  the  region  of  the  English  counties  bordering  on  South 
Wales,  including  Gloucester,  Hereford,  and  Worcester  ;  a  third 
was  the  South- Western  region,  including  Wilts,  Dorset, 
Somerset,  Devon,  and  Cornwall ;  and  the  fourth  was  the  great 
region  of  the  North,  comprehending  the  shires  of  Northumber- 
land, Durham,  Cumberland,  Westmoreland,  York,  and  Lancaster. 
Let  us  try  to  grasp  the  results  of  the  war  by  following  it 


Nov.  1642— June  1643.]     PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  461 

in  each  of  its  five  theatres  or  regions  as  far  as  to  the  Mid- 
summer of  1643.  We  shall  take  the  regions  in  the  order 
which  will  most  conduce  to  clearness  in  the  narrative. 

[.  The  South-Eastern  Counties. — Next  to  Essex,  no  military 
man  on  the  Parliament  side  began  in  the  war  with  more 
golden  opinions  than  Sir  William  Waller.  This  may  have 
been  partly  from  trust  in  his  strongly  pronounced  Presbyterian 
principles  and  his  military  antecedents  (see  ante,  p.  170),  but 
arose  also  from  a  series  of  decided  successes  of  his  in  the 
first  months  of  the  war  itself.  Just  before  the  raising  of 
the  King's  standard,  Colonel  Goring,  to  whom  the  Parlia- 
ment had  entrusted  the  government  of  Portsmouth,  and 
whom  they  intended  to  make  lieutenant-general  of  horse 
under  Essex,  had  revealed  himself  in  his  true  colours  and 
declared  that  he  would  hold  Portsmouth  for  the  King. 
To  recover  this  important  sea-town  of  the  south  became  at 
once  an  object  with  the  Parliament,  and  Sir  William  Waller 
had  been  sent  to  accomplish  it.  He  had  done  so  with  com- 
parative ease, — Portsmouth  surrendering  to  his  army  early 
in  September  1642,  and  Goring  taking  refuge  abroad.  The 
south-eastern  parts  of  England  being  thus  naturally  assigned 
to  Waller,  he  had  returned  to  them,  after  the  battle  of 
Edgehill  and  the  affair  of  Brentford,  and  had  gradually 
cleared  them  of  all  wrecks  of  the  opposition, — taking  Farnham 
in  Surrey  (Dec.  1),  Winchester  (Dec.  13),  and  Chichester 
(Dec.  29).  By  these  actions  the  South-Easterii  Counties 
almost  ceased  to  be  a  separate  theatre  of  war,  and  Waller 
was  set  free  for  service  elsewhere.1 

II.  Tlie  English  Counties  on  tlie  South-  Welsh  Border. — The 
counties  of  Gloucester,  Worcester,  and  Hereford  were,  from 
their  geographical  position,  in  part  manageable  from  the 
King's  own  head-quarters  at  Oxford.  Rupert,  indeed,  did  at 
first  take  Gloucestershire  within  the  range  of  his  excursions  ; 
and  one  action  of  his  there, — the  storming  of  Cirencester 
(Feb.  2,  1642-3), — was  considered  a  brilliant  feat.  But  for 
the  farther  management  of  those  parts,  and  especially  for  the 

»  Wood's  Athome  by  fill**,  III.  814  ;       882;  Riwh.  V.  100,  &<-.  :  I'url.  Hist.  II. 
Clar.    Hist.    pp.   285-7,  34"  I       1440  and  1465,  and  III.  87  and  40. 


462  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

reduction  of  the  important  city  of  Gloucester,  which  was 
held  most  tenaciously  for  the  Parliament  by  Colonel  Massey, 
a  new  plan  was  adopted.  The  lieutenant -generalship  of 
South  Wales  for  the  King  had  been  entrusted  to  Edward 
Somerset,  styled  Lord  Herbert  of  Raglan,  eldest  son  of  the 
Marquis  of  Worcester,  and  himself  afterwards  the  Marquis 
of  Worcester  so  celebrated  for  his  device  of  a  steam-engine 
and  the  rest  of  his  "  Century  of  Inventions."  Both  father 
and  son  were  Roman  Catholics ;  but  the  King's  policy  now 
required  the  services  of  important  men  of  that  religion,  and 
there  were  no  wealthier  or  more  splendid  noblemen  in  the 
West  or  in  Wales  than  these.  The  father,  accordingly,  had 
been  raised  from  the  Earldom  to  the  Marquisate  (Nov.  1642); 
in  which  new  dignity  he  continued  to  live  in  studious  and 
somewhat  eccentric  retirement  in  his  castle  of  Raglan, 
allowing  his  son  the  free  use  of  his  great  revenues  in  that 
more  active  career  which  the  King  had  assigned  to  him. 
This  inventive  nobleman,  not  content  with  merely  governing 
South  Wales  and  keeping  it  to  the  King's  interest,  made  the 
magnificent  offer  to  raise  an  army  at  his  father's  expense, 
with  which  to  issue  out  upon  the  adjacent  English  counties, 
wrest  Gloucester  from  Massey,  and  then  increase  the  King's 
central  forces  at  Oxford.  The  offer  having  been  accepted, 
Lord  Herbert  did  raise  a  fine  little  army,  and,  with  his 
brother,  Lord  John  Somerset,  as  his  master  of  horse,  and 
a  Colonel  Lawley  as  his  major-general,  marched  (Feb.  1642-3) 
towards  Gloucester.  But  it  proved,  as  Clarendon  says, 
"  a  mushroom  army."  For  Sir  William  Waller,  leaving  his 
own  south-eastern  region,  made  a  rapid  march  through 
Wiltshire,  and,  having  acquired  Malmesbury  on  the  way 
(March  21),  appeared  among  Lord  Herbert's  Welshmen  close 
to  Gloucester  with  such  an  effect  of  consternation  that, 
without  fighting  at  all,  most  of  them  became  his  prisoners, 
and  the  rest  fled.  Lord  Herbert  himself  was  then  at  Oxford  ; 
but  the  hopes  from  his  lieutenant-generalship  on  the  Welsh 
borders  were  virtually  at  an  end.  Waller,  pushing  on 
rapidly,  took  Hereford  and  Tewkesbury  (April  and  May 
1643);  and,  having  thus  not  only  saved  Gloucester  and 


Nov.  1642-Junel643.]      PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  463 

confirmed  Massey  there,  but  also  extended  the  sway  of 
Parliamentarianism  in  all  that  region  of  orchards,  returned, 
a  triumphant  man,  to  Essex's  head-quarters.1 

III.  The  Midland  Counties. — In  this  large  central  region 
of  the  war, — divisible,  as  we  have  said,  into  the  Northern 
Midlands  and  the  Southern  Midlands, — less  was  done  than 
had  been  expected.  The  Northern  Midlands  were,  in  the 
main,  held  most  effectively  for  the  Parliamentary  cause  by 
Ixml  Brooke,  of  Warwick  Castle,  as  head  of  the  "  association  " 
that  had  been  formed  in  these  counties.  He  was  assisted 
by  such  leading  Parliamentarians  in  the  several  counties 
as  Lord  Grey  of  Groby,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  in 
Leicestershire,  and  Sir  John  Gell  in  Derbyshire.  Almost 
all  the  towns  and  castles  in  those  Midlands  were  possessed 
for  Parliament.  There  were  some  successful  efforts  for  the 
Kiiijj,  however,  both  in  Leicestershire  and  Derbyshire,  by 
Colonel  Hastings,  a  younger  son  of  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon  ; 
and  Staffordshire  was  the  scene  of  considerable  strife.  In 
this  county  occurred  two  incidents  of  the  war,  each  made 
memorable  by  a  conspicuous  death.  One  was  the  siege 
of  the  Cathedral  Close  of  Lichfield  by  Lord  Brooke, 
\\lin  had  hastened  thither  to  dispossess  a  body  of  Royalists 
that  had  taken  possession  of  it, — in  the  course  of  which 
siege  his  lordship  was  killed  by  a  musket-shot  in  the  eye 
received  as  he  was  standing  at  a  window  near  the  Close 
(March  1,  1642-3);  the  other  was  a  sharp  fight  at  Salt 
Heath,  near  Stafford,  where  the  Royalists  were  victorious, 
but  their  leader,  the  Earl  of  Northampton,  was  slain  (March 
19,  1642-3).  These  incidents  and  the  quest  of  forage 
and  amniunitinn  for  Oxford  brought  the  rapid  Rupert  up 
on  an  excursion  into  the  North  Midlands :  and  the  taking 
and  punishing  of  Birmingham,  then  reputed  the  most 
heartily  disloyal  town  in  England  (April  3,  1643),  and  the 
re-taking  of  Lichfield  (April  21),  were  his  exploits.  The  first 
cost  the  drath  of  tin-  Karl  «.f  Denbigh.—  —Meanwhile  had 
Essex  been  personally  idle  in  his  especial  district  of  tin 

»  Clar.  pit.  861,  862,  and  417  ;  Wood's  Athenio,  III.  199-204  ;  Whitloc-ko,  197  : 


464  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

South  Midlands,  where  he  had  set  himself  down  at  Windsor 
to  protect  London  and  watch  the  King  at  Oxford  ?  Nearly 
so.  The  state  of  Essex's  mind  with  regard  to  the  war  was 
such  as  to  disable  him,  even  had  he  had  the  necessary 
strategic  talent,  from  being  an  aggressive  commander-in- 
chief.  Faithfully  and  honourably  to  act  on  the  defensive 
for  London  and  the  Parliament  against  any  move  of  his 
Majesty,  but  not,  if  it  could  be  avoided,  to  drive  his  Majesty 
to  extremities  :  such  was  Essex's  plan.  A  bold  march  upon 
Oxford,  which  many  cried  for,  was  an  enterprise  which  he 
may  have  thought  imprudent  in  generalship,  but  from  which 
at  any  rate  he  shrank  morally.  Besides,  negotiations,  those 
everlasting  negotiations,  were  again  on  foot.  There  had 
been  a  deputation  of  eminent  members  of  both  Houses  to 
Oxford  in  January  to  implore  his  Majesty  to  consider  the 
state  of  the  country  and  to  consent  to  treat.  These  deputies 
had  made  some  stay,  had  seen  his  Majesty  repeatedly,  and 
talked  freely  with  his  advisers ;  and,  their  arguments  aided 
by  the  sight  of  bleeding  prisoners  from  Cirencester  and 
other  places  carried  into  Oxford,  they  had  settled  pre- 
liminaries to  farther  negotiation  through  commissioners. 
Then,  early  in  March,  the  commissioners  appointed  by 
Parliament  for  the  purpose, — the  Earl  of  Northumberland, 
Sir  William  Armyn,  Sir  John  Holland,  the  Hon.  William 
Pierrepoint,  and  Mr.  Bulstrode  Whitlocke, — had  gone,  in  high 
hopes,  to  Oxford.  For  nearly  six  weeks  the  treaty  lasted, 
with  increase  of  hope  to  its  close,  but  with  absolutely  no 
result.  In  consequence  probably  of  recent  successes  which 
the  King  had  heard  of  on  his  side,  Eupert's  capture  of 
Birmingham  included,  it  was  broken  off  on  April  the  12th. 
Then  Essex,  who  had  been  waiting  anxiously  for  a  different 
result,  was  moved  to  some  activity.  It  took  the  form,  not 
of  a  march  on  Oxford,  but  of  a  SIEGE  OF  BEADING.  In 
this  town,  lying  between  Windsor  and  Oxford,  the  King  had 
placed  a  garrison  of  3,000  men  under  Sir  Arthur  Aston 
as  governor ;  the  town  was  of  importance ;  and  it  contained, 
in  addition  to  its  natural  population,  not  a  few  Eoyalists 
who  had  taken  up  their  residence  in  it  for  the  time,  as  well 


Nov.  1642— Jane  1643.]     PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  465 

as  deserters  from  Essex's  army.  The  siege  began  on  the 
15th  of  April,  with  an  army  of  15,000  foot  and  3,000  horse, 
commanded  by  Essex  in  person ;  much  of  the  work  was 
done  by  Skippon ;  and,  on  the  27th  of  April,  notwithstand- 
ing the  advance  of  the  King  and  Lord  Forth  from  Oxford 
to  the  relief,  the  town  was  surrendered.  The  terms  of 
surrender  on  the  part  of  the  garrison  were  arranged,  not 
by  Sir  Arthur  Aston,  who  had  been  disabled  by  a  wound, 
but  by  his  second  in  command,  Colonel  Fielding.  A  storm 
of  indignation  from  the  King  and  others  descending  on 
this  unfortunate  gentleman,  he  was  condemned  to  death  by 
court-martial  at  Oxford,  but  reprieved.  Satisfied  with  the 
taking  of  Reading,  Essex  relapsed  into  torpor.1 

IV.  The  South -Western  Cminties. — A  great  deal  of  the 
most  important  fighting  took  place  in  this  region,  including 
Wilts,  Dorset,  Somerset,  Devon,  and  Cornwall  We  have 
seen  that,  just  before  war  was  declared,  the  King,  then  in 
Yorkshire,  had  sent  the  great  Marquis  of  Hertford  into 
Somersetshire,  to  stir  up  and  muster  the  masses  of  Royalism 
in  those  parts,  with  a  separate  commission  as  his  Majesty's 
general-in-chief  in  the  West.  The  Marquis  had  gone  to  his 
post,  with  the  Earl  of  Bath,  Lord  Seymour,  Lord  Paulet, 
Sir  Ralph  Hopton,  and  others,  in  his  train.  He  had  taken 
up  his  head-quarters  at  Wells  ;  but,  after  some  triumph  there, 
he  had  been  obliged,  by  the  rising  of  Parliamentarians  in 
unexpected  force  all  round  him  under  local  leaders,  to  retire 
into  Dorsetshire.  He  was  here  when  a  Parliamentary  army 
that  had  been  sent  to  counteract  him,  under  the  Earl  of 
Bedford  and  Mr.  Denzil  Holies,  made  its  appearance.  No 
battle  had  followed ;  but  the  news  of  the  taking  of  Ports- 
mouth by  Waller,  and  of  the  probable  junction  of  Waller's 
forces  with  those  of  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  convinced  the 
Marquis  that  he  could  no  longer  remain  in  those  parts, 
and  that  it  would  be  best  to  rejoin  the  King.  With  some 
diHiriilty,  accordingly,  he,  Lord  Seymour,  Lord  1'aulrt,  and 
most  of  his  officers,  returned  through  Somerset  and  crossed 

1  Clar.  pp.  348—350,  and  381—385.  one  of  the  commissioner*) ;  Kiwhworth, 
Wbitlocko,  pp.  1U4-201  (account  of  V.  147— 152,  and  2tf.r. :  htrl.  Il.>t.  III. 
negotiation*  of  peace,  for  which  he  waa  99—109. 

VOL.  II  '1   II 


466  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  Bristol  Channel  to  Glamorganshire  on  their  way  north- 
wards to  the  King,  leaving  only  Sir  Kalph  Hopton  and  a 
few  determined  men  to  try  whether  something  might  not 
be  done  in  Cornwall.  These  last  the  Earl  of  Bedford  treated 
only  as  fugitives  who  would  soon  be  made  an  end  of  by  the 
Devon  Militia,  and  whom  it  was  unnecessary  for  him  to 
pursue  into  the  western  horn  of  the  island.  He,  therefore, 
returned  to  the  Earl  of  Essex  (Sept.  1642).  But  he  was 
much  in  error.  In  Hopton  the  King  had  a  soldier  who 
was  worth  more  than  the  great  Marquis.  Extraordinary 
news  began  to  come  out  of  Cornwall.  By  wonderful  talent 
in  managing  the  natives  of  that  peculiar  county  according 
to  their  own  ways,  and  with  the  assistance  of  Sir  Bevis 
Greenville,  Sir  Nicholas  Slanning,  Mr.  John  Arundel  and 
Mr.  John  Trevannion, — all  Cornish  gentlemen  of  influence 
and  recently  in  Parliament, — Hopton  became  master  and 
more  in  Cornwall,  drove  all  troublesome  Parliamentarians 
out  of  it,  and  began,  with  a  little  army  raised  in  the  county, 
to  make  incursions  into  Devon,  as  far  as  Exeter  (Nov.  1642). 
The  defence  of  Devonshire  for  the  Parliament  devolved  for 
the  moment  chiefly  on  Colonel  Euthen,  or  Euthven,  a 
Scotsman,  governor  of  Plymouth,  who  did  as  well  as  he 
could  against  Hopton.  But,  to  make  matters  surer,  the 
Parliament  caused  Essex  to  give  Denzil  Holies,  whom  Bedford 
had  left  in  Somersetshire,  and  who  was  governor  of  Bristol, 
a  separate  commission  as  commander-in-chief  in  the  West 
(Dec.  1642).  Hopton,  however,  continued  victorious.  On 
the  19th  of  January  1642-3,  he  defeated  Euthen  and  a 
Parliamentary  force  near  Liskeard,  thus  not  only  assuring 
his  hold  of  Cornwall,  but  making  such  a  demonstration 
for  the  King  in  the  extreme  West  as  to  divert  more  and 
more  of  the  attention  of  Parliament  in  that  direction.  The 
Earl  of  Stamford  was  sent  thither  with  a  very  considerable 
army.  Him  also  Hopton  utterly  routed,  in  a  battle,  fought 
May  16,  1643,  at  Stratton  on  the  borders  of  Cornwall, — a 
service  of  such  merit  that  when,  for  it  and  others,  the 
King  some  time  afterwards  (Sept.  1643)  made  Hopton  a 
peer,  the  title  chosen  was  "  Baron  Hopton  of  Stratton." 


Nov.  1642— June  1643.]     PROGRESS  OF  THK  W. VI:.  467 

The  immediate  result  of  Hopton's  Cornish  successes  was 
that  the  Marquis  of  Hertford  came  back  from  Oxford  to 
resume  his  enterprise  of  rousing  the  collective  Royalism 
of  all  the  south-western  counties.  He  brought  Rupert's 
brother,  Prince  Maurice,  with  him,  as  his  lieutenant-general, 
and,  gathering  strength  largely  as  he  passed  through 
Somerset  and  Dorset,  joined  his  forces  with  those  of  the 
victorious  Hopton  on  the  borders  of  Somerset  and  Devon. 
This  was  early  in  June.  Taunton,  Bridgewater,  and  other 
places  in  those  parts,  were  immediately  won  for  the  King, 
and  the  Royalists  looked  forward  to  the  taking  of  Bristol.1 

V.  The  Northern  Counties. — In  these  counties,  where  the 
population  was  much  divided,  and  where  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  Sir  Thomas  Glenham  at  York  and  the  two  Hothams 
at  Hull  were  the  chief  agents  in  the  field  on  both  sides,  there 
WES  at  first  a  natural  disposition  of  the  leading  inhabitants  to 
remain  neutral,  and  to  live  and  let  live  till  the  controversy 
should  be  worked  out  by  proceedings  elsewhere.  There  was 
even  a  sort  of  paction  to  that  effect  among  the  chief  York- 
shire gentry.  But  this  could  not  be  permitted.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  Earl  of  Newcastle,  who  had  been  sent  into  North- 
umberland by  the  King,  before  the  war  broke  out,  to  take 
possession  of  the  seaport  of  Newcastle  and  otherwise  exert 
his  great  influence  in  that  extreme  of  England,  was  not  con- 
tent with  keeping  Northumberland  and  Durham  inactive 
and  securing  the  great  port,  but  wished  to  whirl  the  strength 
of  those  parts  southwards  through  the  intervening  counties 
to  the  King's  help.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Parliament  were 
by  no  means  content  that  the  great  county  of  Yorkshire 
should  be  stagnant, — a  county  where,  though  York  was  the 
King's,  they  counted  Leeds,  Halifax,  Bradford,  and  other 
towns,  their  own.  A  commission  from  Essex  had,  therefore, 
been  sent  down,  in  November  1642,  empowering  Lord  Fer- 
dinando  Fairfax  to  act  as  Parliamentary  general-in-chief  in 
Yorkshire  and  the  northern  counties  adjacent.  Fairfax,  and 
his  military  son,  Sir  Thomas,  hastened  to  act  upon  this  com- 

'  riar.  pp.  273,  287-296,  343,  and  897-400;  Part.  Hint.  III.  39,  40;  Rush- 
worth,  V.  271. 


468  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

mission  and  raised  a  considerable  army  in  South  Yorkshire 
where  already  the  two  Hothams,  father  and  son,  were  acting 
for  the  Parliament  from  Hull.  The  command  for  the  King 
in  Yorkshire  having  been  entrusted  to  the  Earl  of  Cumber- 
land, and  that  in  Lancashire  to  the  Earl  of  Derby,  there  were 
nominally  three  leading  Earls  for  the  King, — Newcastle, 
Cumberland,  and  Derby, — in  the  region  which  Parliament 
had  assigned  to  the  Fairfaxes.  The  Earl  of  Cumberland, 
however,  being  inactive  and  willing  to  waive  his  powers, 
and  the  Earl  of  Derby  being  more  haughty  in  the  cause 
than  efficient,  the  real  conduct  of  the  war  for  the  King  in 
the  whole  of  the  North  devolved  on  the  Earl  of  Newcastle. 
Early  in  December  he  extended  his  sway  beyond  his  own 
shires  of  Northumberland  and  Durham  as  far  as  the  city 
of  York, — thus  converting  a  large  portion  of  the  North  of 
England,  with  York  for  its  capital,  into  a  clear  Royalist 
area.  Into  the  area  so  cleared  there  arrived,  at  this  very 
juncture,  a  personage  whose  presence,  without  interfering 
with  the  Earl  of  Newcastle's  generalship,  added  a  dignity  to 
his  enterprise  and  a  special  interest  to  his  province  of  the 
war.—  — Queen  Henrietta-Maria,  after  having  been  abroad  for 
a  whole  year,  during  the  latter  part  of  which  she  had  sent 
much  ammunition,  &c.,  into  England  by  way  of  Newcastle 
had  run  the  hazard  of  returning  in  person,  bringing  with  her 
what  additional  war-stores  a  Dutch  ship  could  carry.  She 
landed  safely  on  the  Yorkshire  coast  on  the  22nd  of  February 
1642-3,  and  was  received  with  enthusiasm  at  York.  Thence- 
forward, if  not  before,  the  Royalist  army  in  the  North  went 
by  the  name  of  the  "  Queen's  Army,"  alias  the  "  Popish  Army." 
Colonel  Goring,  who  had  also  returned,  became,  by  the 
Queen's  interest,  its  general  of  horse,  while  the  lieutenant- 
generalship,  under  the  Earl  of  Newcastle,  was  entrusted  to 
a  Scotsman  named  King.  Against  this  Queen's  army  the 
Fairfaxes,  not  much  assisted  by  the  jealous  Hothams  of  Hull, 
did  what  they  could.  Substantially,  however,  they  were 
restricted  to  a  section  of  Yorkshire,  while  the  Earl  of  New- 
castle was  so  much  master  of  the  rest  as  to  be  able  to  think 
of  passing  his  own  bounds  and  overflowing  into  the  North 


Nov.  1642— June  1643.]     PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  469 

*  . 

Midlands  and  the  Eastern  Counties.  He  had  planted  a 
garrison  at  Newark  in  Nottinghamshire  on  the  borders  of 
Lincolnshire  ;  and  now,  pressing  still  southwards,  he  harassed 
the  Parliamentarians  of  the  Midlands  all  round,  and  perturbed 
Lincolnshire  itself.  On  the  23rd  of  March,  Colonel  Cavendish 
a  very  young  man,  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Devonsliire,  having 
been  sent  by  the  Earl  into  Lincolnshire,  took  the  town  of 

Grantham. It  is  in  this  eddy  of  the  general  war, — the 

eddy  in  and  about  Lincolnshire,  caused  by  the  meeting  of 
the  Koyalist  tide  rushing  from  the  North  and  the  resisting 
Parliamentarian  tides  from  the  Midlands  and  the  Eastern 
Counties, — that  Cromwell,  now  a  Colonel,  first  flashes  into 
military  notice.  Cromwell's  work  had  mainly  been  within  the 
"  Eastern  Counties  Association  "  hitherto ;  and  Lincolnshire, 
though  an  eastern  county,  was  not  yet  formally  included  in 
the  Association.  His  eyes,  however,  had  naturally  turned 
across  that  county  to  the  Fairfaxes,  trying  to  maintain 
themselves  in  Yorkshire.  Could  the  Eastern  Counties  and 
the  adjacent  North  Midlands  club  forces  so  as  to  break 
through  to  the  aid  of  the  Fairfaxes,  that  would  be  tlieir 
contribution  to  the  war  !  The  Eastern  Counties,  even  by 
themselves,  must  prevent  Lincolnshire  from  being  over- 
run. Accordingly,  all  through  May  1643  Cromwell  was 
in  Lincolnshire,  and  the  first  notable  action  of  his  Iron- 
sides was  the  defeat  near  Grantham  of  a  much  larger  body 
of  Royalist  troops  that  had  come  from  Newark  (May  13). 
Cromwell's  eyes  were  still  directed  northwards,  in  the 
hope  of  a  junction  with  the  distressed  Fairfaxes  for  a 
rescue  of  Yorkshire ;  and  this  hope  was  heightened  by  the 
news  of  a  great  victory  gained  by  Lord  Fairfax  at  Wakefield 
over  the  Earl  of  Newcastle's  troops  (May  21).  This  was  a 
gleam  of  joy  for  the  Parliamentarians ;  but  their  prospects 
in  the  North  were  still  very  precarious.1 

»  Clar.  pp.  378, 346, 347 ;  Rushworth,  work  has  boon  a  chronology  of  the  war 

78, 126, 156  ;  Parl.  Hint.  III.  40—  drawn  up  by  myself  from  my  reading 

49,  74—77, 89,  90 ;  and  Carlyle's  in   many  books.      Hovering  over  thin 

('roinwull,  I.  103— 122.— With  reference  chronology,  and  studying  lU  items  in 

to  ray  summary  of  the  war  as  a  whole  I  their  relations  of  time  ana  place,  I  have 

may  hero  say  that,  though  I  have  cit.  .1  tri«-<l  to  systomati/o  it  into  a  narrative. 

some  authorities,  my  immediate  ground-  and  have  altered  the  arrangement  and 


4*70  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

From  this  summary  of  the  events  of  the  war  in  the  different 
parts  of  England  as  far  as  to  June  16 43,  it  will  be  seen  that", 
though  there  had  been  much  agony  and  bloodshed,  there  had 
been  little  progress  towards  a  conclusion.  If  the  Parliament 
had  won  in  some  parts,  it  had  lost  in  others  ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  regard  being  had  to  what  had  been  done  by  Hopton 
and  the  Marquis  of  Hertford  in  the  South- West,  and  by  the 
Earl  of  Newcastle  in  the  North,  the  King  might  be  thought 
the  gainer.  Desertions  to  his  side,  and  meditated  desertions, 
implied  such  a  belief.  That  Urry,  or  Hurry,  major-general 
of  horse  under  Sir  William  Balfour,  had  resigned  his  com- 
mission, and  gone  to  Oxford  to  better  his  prospects  under 
Lord  Forth  and  Prince  Eupert,  was  nothing.  He  was  but 
a  Scottish  soldier  of  fortune,  a  Dugald  Dalgetty.  More  im- 
portant, if  not  more  significant,  were  the  desertion  to  the 
King  of  such  men  as  Sir  Hugh  Cholmley,  M.P.  for  Scar- 
borough, the  known  wavering  of  the  two  Hothams  in  the 
same  county  of  York,  and  the  discovered  treachery  of 
the  poet  Waller,  M.P.  for  St.  Ives.  Waller's  was  a  very 
flagrant  case.  He  and  some  other  men  of  influence  in 
London  had  been  lured  into  a  plot  for  a  stroke  against 
Parliament  and  its  chiefs.  The  plot  was  discovered  at  the 
end  of  May  1643.  The  plotters  were  arrested  ;  two  of  the 
subordinates  were  hanged  ;  Waller  also,  after  a  most  abject 
admission  of  his  guilt,  was  sentenced  to  death.  The  sentence 
was  not  executed ;  and,  after  a  year's  imprisonment  and  a 
fine  of  10,000/.,  Waller  was  permitted  to  carry  his  damaged 
character,  and  his  poetical  and  gentlemanly  tastes,  abroad 
till  easier  times.1 

Little  wonder  that  the  Parliamentarians,  and  especially 
the  Londoners,  heavily  taxed  in  their  purses  for  the  current 
expenses  of  the  war,  and  inconvenienced  besides  by  the 
stoppage  of  their  coal  from  Newcastle,  were  disgusted  with 

grouping  two  or  three    times   before  ing  Clarendon  in  most  places  is  like 

settling  on  what  I  found  the  clearest.  walking  on  velvet.     Faults  and  all,  he 

As   one   has   frequently   to    object    to  is  a  splendid  writer ;  and,  even  while 

Clarendon's  inaccuracyand  partisanship,  doubting  him,  one  has  again  and  again 

I  may  here  say  that,  in  his  narration  of  to  go  to  him  in  order  to  understand 

the  events  of  the  war,  his  grasp  of  those  things. 

events,  and  his  skill  as  a  literary  artist,  1  Clar.  347,  and  389—394  :  Parl.  Hist, 

deserve  the  highest  admiration.    Read-  III.  120—129,  and  140—143. 


June  1643.]  DEATH  OF  HAMPDEN.  4*71 

the  state  of  affairs.  Secretly,  if  not  openly,  it  was  Essex 
that  was  blamed.  Was  he  not  too  slow,  too  aristocratically 
reverent,  too  much  impeded  by  fears  of  the  issues  of  the  very 
movement  he  had  been  appointed  to  lead  ?  His  single  feat 
in  seven  months  had  been  the  Siege  of  Reading.  Was  that 
enough  ?  Might  there  not  be  a  better  generalissimo  ?  Sir 
William  Waller,  for  example  ?  He  was  not  much  to  look  at 
beside  Essex,  being  but  a  little  man  personally l ;  but  he  had 
succeeded  yet  in  everything  he  had  tried,  and  his  principles 
both  in  Church  and  State  would  carry  him  farther  than  Essex 
was  likely  to  go.  For  the  moment,  Waller  was  decidedly 
the  favourite.  People  had  begun,  in  consequence  of  his 
uniform  and  easy  success  hitherto,  to  call  him  "  William  the 
Conqueror."  Then,  again,  failing  Waller,  was  there  not 
Hampden  ?  Every  one  knew  his  principles,  and  what  a  man 
he  was  when  his  mind  was  made  up.  Might  they  not  make 
Hampden  general-in-chief  ?  Alas !  whatever  hopes  there 
might  have  been  in  that  scheme,  it  could  never  be  tried. 
Hampden's  days  were  numbered.  The  alert  young  Rupert, 
acting  on  information  he  had  received  from  the  deserter 
Urry,  was  dashing  east  from  Oxford  among  outlying  parties 
of  Essex's  horse  on  the  borders  of  Bucks.  He  had  made 
one  successful  raid,  and  was  returning  from  another,  when 
he  found  himself  pursued  by  a  body  of  horse  sent  by  Essex 
for  the  purpose.  He  faced  about  to  meet  them.  It  was 
the  morning  of  the  18th  of  June  1643,  and  the  place  was 
Chalgrove  Field  in  Bucks,  not  far  from  the  borders  of  Oxford- 
shire. Rupert  beat  his  pursuers  and  escaped  before  Essex 
himself  could  come  up.  The  Parliamentarian  Colonel  or 
Major  Gunter  was  killed  in  the  skirmish,  and  Hampden 
was  carried  off  the  field  mortally  wounded.  Like  Douglas 
in  the  old  ballad, 

Never  after  in  all  his  life-days 

He  spoke  mo  words  but  one : 
"  Fight  ye,  my  merry  men,  whiles  ye  may, 

For  my  life-days  be  gone."  2 

i  Wood'.  Ath.  III.  814.  *  Ruahworth,  V.  274  ;  Clar.  386,  395,  and  401. 


CHAPTEE    II. 

MILTON  NOT  IN  THE  ARMY  :  HIS  TURNHAM  GREEN  SONNET,  AND 
INTEREST  IN  THE  SIEGE  OF  READING  I  HIS  MARRIAGE  — THE 
POWELLS  OF  FOREST  HILL. 

IF  there  was  any  man  in  England  of  whom  one  might 
have  surely  expected  that  he  would  be  in  arms  among  the 
Parliamentarians,  that  man  was  Milton.  Four  years  before, 
when  the  news  of  the  rupture  between  the  King  and  the 
Scots  had  reached  him  at  Naples,  had  he  not  abandoned  the 
intended  prolongation  of  his  tour  into  Sicily  and  Greece,  and 
returned  homewards,  expressly  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be 
disgraceful  for  him  to  be  enjoying  himself  abroad  while  his 
fellow-countrymen  at  home  were  fighting  for  liberty  ? ]  Was 
not  this  a  pledge  that,  if  that  rising  of  the  Scots  did  extend 
to  England,  he  would  be  in  the  midst  of  it,  with  heart  and 
limb  as  well  as  with  head  and  pen  ?  And  had  not  all  that 
he  had  done  since  committed  him  farther  to  such  a 
course  ?  While  over  the  whole  of  England  men  who  had 
hitherto  been  saying  little  were  fighting  and  dying  for  the 
Parliament,  and  even  the  merchants  and  apprentices  of 
London  were  going  about  in  uniform  and  ready  to  fight, 
how  could  this  man  of  note,  this  writer  of  Anti-Episcopal 
Pamphlets,  this  out-of-doors  friend  and  ally  of  all  that  was 
extreme  and  Eoot- and -Branch  within  the  Parliament, — 
how  could  he  be  absent  from  the  ranks  ?  He  had  no 
domestic  ties  to  keep  him  back.  He  was  a  bachelor,  well- 
off,  and  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  his  household  consisted 
but  of  himself,  two  nephews,  and  one  woman-servant  or 

1  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  p.  816.. 


1642-3.]  MILTON'S  MIUTAKY  KNOWLEDGE.  4*73 

housekeeper.  For  active  service  in  some  post  in  Essex's 
army,  or  surely  at  least  among  the  London  Trained  Bands 
and  Volunteers,  here  was  the  very  man. 

At  some  time  or  other  during  his  life,  and  by  some  means 
or  other,  I  am  perfectly  sure,  Milton  had  acquired  some 
practical  knowledge  of  drill  and  of  military  forms  and 
manoeuvres.  That  he  habitually  or  generally  wore  a  sword, 
and  that  he  considered  himself  an  extremely  good  swords- 
man, and  more  than  a  match  at  that  weapon  for  men  of  far 
heavier  weight  than  himself,  we  know  on  his  own  testimony.1 
This  only  implies,  however,  that  he  had  been  taught  fencing 
in  his  youth,  probably  at  Cambridge.  What  I  mean  at  pre- 
sent is  something  more.  There  are  passages  in  Paradise 
Lost  which  prove  to  me  that  Milton  knew  the  pike-manual, 
company  and  battalion  drill,  and  something  of  officer's  work 
at  parade  and  review,  and  also  of  artillery  practice. 

Take  the  description  of  the  collected  host  of  rebel- Angels, 
after  they  have  been  roused  from  their  first  stupor  in  Hell, 
mustering  on  the  sulphur-plain  before  their  commander 
Satan  (P.  L.,  I.  549—571):— 

Anon  they  move 

In  perfect  phalanx  to  the  Dorian  mood 
Of  flutes  and  soft  recorders,  such  as  raised 
To  highth  of  noblest  temper  heroes  old 
Arming  to  battle,  and  instead  of  rage 
Deliberate  valour  breathed,  firm  and  unmoved 
With  dread  of  death  to  flight  or  foul  retreat ; 
Nor  wanting  power  to  mitigate  and  swage 
With  solemn  touches  troubled  thoughts,  and  chase 
Anguish  and  doubt  and  fear  and  sorrow  and  pain 
From  mortal  or  immortal  minds.     Thus  they, 
Breathing  united  force,  with  fixed  thought 
Moved  on  in  silence  to  soft  pipes  that  charmed 
Their  painful  steps  o'er  the  burnt  soil.     And  now 
Advanced  in  view  they  stand,  a  horrid  front 
Of  dreadful  length  and  dazzling  arms,  in  guise 
Of  warriors  old,  with  ordered  .-pear  and  shield, 

Vol.  I.  p.  308. 


474  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Awaiting  what  command  their  mighty  chief 
Had  to  impose.     He  through  the  armed  files 
Darts  his  experienced  eye,  and  soon  traverse 
The  whole  battalion  views,  their  order  due, 
Their  visages  and  stature  as  of  gods ; 
Their  number  last  he  sums. 

There  is  much  here  that  a  mere  occasional  onlooker  at 
reviews  might  have  compassed ;  but  there  are  touches  in 
the  description  (as,  for  example,  the  ordering  of  arms  at  the 
moment  of  halt,  and  without  word  of  command)  too  exact 
and  technical  to  have  occurred  to  a  mere  civilian. 

Again,  at  the  same  review,  when  Satan,  standing  with  his 
staff  around  him,  wishes  to  address  his  army,  here  figured  as  a 
battalion,  how  is  the  incident  described  (P.  Z.,  1. 6 1 5 —  618)? 

He  now  prepared 

To  speak ;  whereat  their  doubled  ranks  they  bend 
From  wing  to  wing,  and  half  enclose  him  round 
With  all  his  peers  :  attention  held  them  mute. 

To  the  present  day  this  is  the  very  process,  or  one  of 
the  processes,  when  a  commander  wishes  to  address  his 
men.  They  wheel  inwards,  and  stand  at  "  attention." 

But,  for  a  passage  showing  even  more  intricate  knowledge 
of  military  methods,  take  the  account  of  the  procedure  of 
Gabriel  when,  having  reason  to  think  that  Satan  has 
stealthily  made  his  way  into  Paradise  on  some  bad  errand, 
and  is  somewhere  within  its  precincts,  he  orders  his  com- 
pany of  guardian- Angels  out  on  their  rounds  of  night-watch, 
and  otherwise  sees  to  the  protection  of  Adam  and  Eve  from 
their  wily  foe  (P.  L.,  IV.  7  7  7 — 7  9  9).  Understand,  first,  that 
Paradise  is  described  as  a  kind  of  oblong  of  garden-ground 
and  woodland  enclosed  within  walls,  and  that  the  station, 
or  let  us  say  armoury  or  guard-house,  where  Gabriel  and 
his  Angels  have  their  post,  is  at  the  eastern  gate  of  Paradise, 
at  the  middle  of  one  of  the  narrow  sides  of  the  oblong. 
There,  while  daylight  lasted,  the  Angels  had  been  exercising 
themselves,  like  young  soldiers,  in  heroic  games,  while 
Gabriel  sat  and  looked  on ;  but  this  was  over,  and  it  was 


1642-3.]  MILTON'S  MILITARY  KNOWLEDGE.  475 

that  time  in  the  evening  when  the  guard  was  due,  i.e.  about 
nine  o'clock:  — 

Now  had  Night  measured  with  her  shadowy  cone 

Half-way  uphill  this  vast  sublunar  vault, 

And  from  their  ivory  port  the  Cherubim, 

Forth-issuing  at  the  accustomed  hour,  stood  armed 

To  their  night-watches  in  warlike  parade ; 

When  Gabriel  to  his  next  in  power  thus  spake : 

"  Uzziel,  half  these  draw  off,  and  coast  the  south 

"  \Vith  strictest  watch  ;  these  other  wheel  the  north  : 

"  Our  circuit  meets  full  west."     As  flame  they  part, 

Half  wheeling  to  the  shield,  half  to  the  spear. 

From  these  two  strong  and  subtle  Spirits  he  called 

That  near  him  stood,  and  gave  them  thus  in  charge  : 

"  Ithuriel  and  Zephon,  with  winged  speed 

"  Search  through  this  Garden  ;  leave  unsearched  no  nook ; 

"  But  chiefly  where  those  two  fair  creatures  lodge, 

"  Now  laid  perhaps  asleep,  secure  of  harm. 

"  This  evening  from  the  Sun's  decline  arrived 

"  Who  tells  of  some  infernal  Spirit  seen 

"  Hitherward  bent  (who  could  have  thought  ?),  escaped 

"  The  bars  of  Hell,  on  errand  bad  no  doubt ; 

"  Such  where  ye  find  seize  fast  and  hither  bring." 

So  flaying,  on  he  led  his  radiant  files, 

Dazzling  the  moon. 

This  too,  with  all  its  beauty,  is  exact.  It  is  a  captain 
Id  caking  his  company  into  subdivisions  by  the  order 
"  right-and-left-wheel "  (the  Roman  equivalent  for  "  right- 
wheel"  being  "wheel  to  the  spear,  or  spear-hand,"  and  for 
"  left-wheel  "  "  wheel  to  the  shield,  or  shield-hand," — declinarc 
(id  ha&tam,  vel  ad  scutum,  as  Livy  has  it) ;  after  which  the 
two  subdivisions  "  file-march  "  in  the  moonlight  in  contrary 
directions  round  the  oblong  space  to  be  guarded,  one  under 
the  captain  and  the  other  under  the  lieutenant :  two  scouts 
having  meanwhile  been  detached  to  advance  straight  across 

the  oblong  and  search  the  interior  as  they  go. And 

in  tin-  scijucl  we  have  the  same  exactness.  The  scouts  are 
successful  in  their  search.  They  find  Satan,  squat  like  a 
toad,  in  Eve's  nuptial  bower  as  she  sleeps,  insinuating 
divaiii-  int..  her  car;  and,  having  Compelled  him  into  his 
own  shape,  they  lead  him  prisoner  to  the  \\.-i.rn  .-nd  of 


4*76  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Paradise,  They  arrive  (864,  865)  when  the  two  subdivisions 
of  the  watch,  each  after  its  half-round, 

Just  met,  and,  closing.,  stood  in  squadron  joined, 
Awaiting  next  command. 

Here  we  see  the  two  subdivisions  of  Angels,  after  their 
file -marches  separately  from  the  other  end  of  Paradise, 
meeting  and  re-forming  company,  precisely  as  soldiers  would 
do,  by  the  act  known  as  closing.  But  more  follows.  Ere 
Gabriel  can  give  them  any  command,  he  is  aware  of  the 
approach  of  the  two  scout-Angels  with  their  prisoner.  Then 
there  come  the  proud  talk  and  defiant  demeanour  of  Satan, 
till,  at  length,  after  his  last  insulting  speech,  the  band  of 
Angels  are  moved  by  a  sudden  impulse  to  attack  him.  And 
how  (978—984)? 

While  thus  lie  spake,  the  Angelic  squadron  bright 
Turned  fiery-red,  sharpening  in  mooned  horns 
Their  phalanx,  and  began  to  hem  him  round 
With  ported  spears,  as  thick  as  when  a  field 
Of  Ceres  ripe  for  harvest  waving  bends 
Her  bearded  grove  of  ears  which  way 
The  wind  sways  them. 

The  full  relish  of  this  passage  is  reserved  for  those  who  know 
what  is  meant  by  "  ported  spears  "  ;  and  not  one  of  all  Mil- 
ton's commentators  hitherto  has  been  among  them.  "  With 
ported  spears :  with  their  spears  borne  pointed  towards  him," 
is  the  explanation  given  by  the  earliest  and  one  of  the  best  of 
the  commentators ;  and  it  has  been  repeated  by  all  the  rest, 
down  to  one  of  the  latest  and  best,  who  puts  it  thus,  "ported, 
borne,  advanced."  l  Nothing  of  the  kind  ;  and  the  error  is 
the  more  curious  because  the  commentators  have  generally 
given  the  accompanying  explanation  that  "  to  port  the  pike  " 
was  a  military  term.  So  it  was  ;  but  that  Milton  was  more 
knowing  than  his  commentators  in  his  use  of  the  term 
argues  that  he  must  have  seen  pikes  "  ported  "  oftener  than 
they.  The  "port"  is  not  the  advancing  of  the  weapon, 

1  Annotations  on   Milton's  Paradise       Keightley's    Milton,    1859,    vol.    I.    p. 
Lost,  by  P.  H.   (i.e.    Patrick  Hume),       377. 
?,  folio,  London,  1695,  p.  166  ; 


1..U-3.]  MILTON'S  MILITARY  KNOWLEDGE.  477 

whether  pike  or  bayonet,  straight  forward  as  if  to  push  it 
into  an  enemy.  That  is  the  "  charge  "  ;  and  the  "  port "  is  the 
movement  or  position  preparatory  to  the  "  charge."  It  is  the 
grasping  of  the  pike  diagonally  across  the  body,  butt  down 
towards  the  right,  and  point  upwards  in  the  air  over  the 
left  shoulder,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  bring  it  down  strongly 
and  suddenly,  by  a  half-wheel  of  the  body,  to  the  push  for 
receiving  an  enemy.  This  brings  out  the  beauty  of  Milton's 
image  and  makes  the  Angels  better  soldiers  than  the  com- 
mentators would  make  them.  For,  were  spears  well  ported, 
the  slant  spear-heads  all  parallel  over  the  left  shoulders  of 
a  whole  company  of  men  might  be  compared  to  ripe  corn- 
stalks blown  by  the  wind,  off  the  perpendicular,  all  one 
way.  What  on  earth  the  commentators  made  of  the  image 
when  they  fancied  that  "  ported  spears  "  meant  spears  thrust 
straight  forward,  as  if  to  push  or  receive  a  push,  passes 
comprehension. 

While  practical  knowledge  of  the  manual  exercise  and  of 
drill  generally  is  clearly  implied  by  these  and  other  passages 
in  Paradise  Lost,  there  are  passages  implying  also  some 
acquaintance  with  larger  field-movements  and  with  artillery 
practice.  Take,  for  one  example,  that  passage  with  which 
some  critics  have  been  so  much  scandalized  on  the  grounds 
of  taste,  where  Milton,  in  his  narrative  of  the  wars  in 
Heaven,  describes  the  Kebel  host  as  renewing  the  fight,  on 
the  second  day,  with  that  new  machinery  of  gunpowder  and 
cannons  which  they  have  invented  and  perfected  by  labour 
overnight,  and  of  which  the  loyal  Angels  are  not  yet  aware 
(P.  L.,  VI.  549 — 594).  It  is  early  morning  in  Heaven,  and 
intelligence  is  brought  to  the  loyal  Angels  that  the  enemy 
is  slowly  on  the  move  towards  them. 


Instant  without  disturb  tluy  took  alarm, 
And  onward  move  embattled  ;  when  behold 
Not  dUtant  far  with  li.-avy  par.-  tin-  foe 
A j.j »roaching  gross  and  huge,  in  hollow  cube 
Training  his  <l«-vilMi  ••iiLfinry.  impaled 

.-TV  -id«-  with  ilndowing aqaadroDfl  d 
To  hide  the  fraud. 


478  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

This  is  very  exact  for  a  masked  battery  on  the  move 
with  an  army.  Then,  when  the  two  armies  are  at  a  little 
distance,  Satan  suddenly  appears  at  the  head  of  his,  and 
there  follows  that  speech  which  has  most  of  all  shocked  the 
critics,  commencing  with  the  word  of  command, 

Vanguard,  to  right  and  left  the  front  unfold. 

While  this  order  is  being  executed,  Satan  continues  in  a  strain 
of  horrible  irony,  mixed  with  puns  about  the  way  in  which 
the  enemy  are  likely  to  receive  this  new  "  overture  "  of  his, 
and  about  his  own  readiness  to  "  discharge  "  his  part  freely, 
and  the  readiness  of  his  men  to  "  touch  "  what  he  "  pro- 
pounds." The  result  of  this  strange  procedure,  at  which 
Michael's  loyal  host  had  all  the  while  been  gazing,  won- 
dering what  it  meant,  is  thus  described  by  one  of  them : — 

He  scarce 

Had  ended,  when  to  right  and  left  the  front 
Divided,  and  to  either  flank  retired  : 
Which  to  our  eyes  discovered,  new  and  strange, 
A  triple-mounted  row  of  pillars  laid 
On  wheels  (for  like  to  pillars  most  they  seemed, 
Or  hollowed  bodies  made  of  oak  or  fir, 
With  branches  lopt,  in  wood  or  mountain  felled), 
Brass,  iron,  stony  mould,  had  not  their  mouths 
With  hideous  orifice  gaped  on  us  wide, 
Portending  hollow  truce.     At  each  behind 
A  Seraph  stood,  and  in  his  hand  a  reed 
Stood  waving  tipt  with  fire ;  while  we,  suspense, 
Collected  stood,  within  our  thoughts  amused  : 
Not  long,  for  sudden  all  at  once  their  reeds 
Put  forth,  and  to  a  narrow  vent  applied 
With  nicest  touch.     Immediate  in  a  flame, 
But  soon  obscured  with  smoke,  all  Heaven  appeared, 
From  those  deep-throated  engines  belched,  whose  roar 
Embowelled  with  outrageous  noise  the  air 
And  all  her  entrails  tore,  disgorging  foul 
Their  devilish  glut,  chained  thunderbolts  and  hail 
Of  iron  globes ;  which,  on  the  victor  host 
Levelled,  with  such  impetuous  fury  smote 
That  whom  they  hit  none  on  their  feet  might  stand, 
Though  standing  else  as  rocks,  but  down  they  fell 
By  thousands. 


1642-3.]  MILTON'S  MILITARY  KNOWLEDGE.  479 

It  may,  of  course,  be  argued  that  much  of  the  acquaintance 
with  military  affairs  shown  in  these  and  the  preceding  pass- 
ages is  only  such  as  might  have  been  acquired  by  any 
observant  man  who,  without  undergoing  drill  himself,  had 
opportunities  of  seeing  soldiers  at  their  manoeuvres,  and  had 
been  sufficiently  inquisitive  about  military  matters  to  read 
a  few  military  books.  Milton  may  have  had  in  his  library 
the  Dutch  collection  by  Scriverius  of  the  "  Vetcres  de  Re 
Militari  Scriptures"  published  in  1607;  and  he  is  likely 
enough  to  have  included  some  of  those  writers  in  his  Greek 
and  Latin  studies,  as  well  as  to  have  read  the  translations 
of  some  of  them,  and  other  military  books  in  English.  We 
know  for  certain  from  Phillips  that,  among  the  Latin  and 
Greek  books  he  made  his  nephews  and  his  other  pupils  read, 
were  ^Elianus  Tacticus  on  the  Art  of  War  among  the  Greeks, 
the  Strategics  or  Stratagematics  of  Frontinus,  and  the  Strata- 
gems of  Polysenus.1  But  some  of  the  terms  and  allusions  in 
the  passages  quoted  from  Paradise  Lost  are  too  minute  and 
technical  to  have  come  easily  to  a  reader  of  military  books, 
if  unacquainted  with  drill  practically  ;  and  is  it  likely  that  a 
person  unacquainted  with  drill  practically  would  have  laid  such 
stress  on  military  instruction  for  youth,  or  that  a  person  who 
laid  such  stress  on  military  instruction  for  youth  would  have 
remained  unacquainted  with  drill  practically  ?  This  reason- 
ing becomes  stronger  when  we  look  at  Milton's  own  Tract 
on  Education,  published  not  much  more  than  a  year  after  the 
tin  it-  with  which  we  are  now  concerned.2  Without  anticipat- 
ing what  we  shall  have  to  say  about  that  Tract  in  general, 
we  may  here  state  that  Milton's  ideal  of  a  high-class  School 
or  Academy,  as  there  propounded,  is  that  it  should,  at  the 
utmost,  consist  of  120  or  130  boys  or  youths,  all  lodged 
in  one  spacious  house  under  one  head-master,  with  about 
20  attendants, — just  a  sufficient  number  of  youths,  he 
explains,  to  form  conveniently  one  foot  company  or  two 
horse- troops ;  and  he  goes  on  to  show  how,  in  addition  to  a 
thorough  and  complete  course  of  instruction,  through  books, 
in  classical  literature  and  in  all  kinds  of  useful  scirm •< •, 

»  Phillipa's  Memoir  of  Milton.  I    wo*  published  in  Juno  1644. 


480  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

such  an  academy  ought  to  provide  a  perfect  system  both 
of  gymnastics  for  the  pupils  singly,  and  of  military  drill 
for  them  collectively.  "About  two  hours  before  supper,"  he 
says,  "  they  are,  by  a  sudden  alarum  or  watchword,  to  be  called 
"  out  to  their  military  motions,  under  sky  or  covert  according 
"  to  the  season,  as  was  the  Eoman  wont :  first  on  foot ;  then, 
"  as  their  age  permits,  on  horseback,  to  all  the  art  of  cavalry  : 
"  that,  having  in  sport,  but  with  much  exactness,  and  daily 
"  muster,  served  out  the  rudiments  of  their  soldiership  in  all 
"  the  skill  of  embattling,  marching,  encamping,  fortifying, 
"  besieging  and  battering,  with  all  the  helps  of  ancient  and 
"  modern  stratagems,  tactics,  and  warlike  maxims,  they  may, 
"  as  it  were  out  of  a  long  war,  come  forth  renowned  and  perfect 
u  commanders  in  the  service  of  their  country."  And  what 
would  be  the  result  ?  The  words  in  which  he  describes  it 
are  very  notable.  "  They  would  not  then,"  he  adds,  "  if 
"  they  were  trusted  with  fair  and  hopeful  armies,  suffer  them, 
"  for  want  of  just  and  wise  discipline,  to  shed  away  from 
"  about  them  like  sick  feathers,  though  they  be  never  so 
"  oft  supplied ;  they  would  not  suffer  their  empty  and 
"  unrecruitable  colonels  of  twenty  men  in  a  company  to  quaff 
"  out,  or  convey  into  secret  hoards,  the  wages  of  a  delusive 
"  list,  and  a  miserable  remnant  yet  in  the  meanwhile  to  be 
"  overmastered  with  a  score  or  two  of  drunkards,  the  only 
"  soldiery  about  them,  or  else  to  comply  with  all  rapines  and 
"  violences."  The  bitter  allusion  here  evidently  is  to  the 
inefficiency  of  those  who  had  held  command  in  Essex's  army, 
and  to  other  army  abuses,  as  they  had  become  apparent 
before  the  Tract  was  published  in  1644;  but  something  of 
the  same  feeling  may  well  have  been  in  Milton's  mind  as 
it  was  in  the  minds  of  others,  before  Midsummer  1643. 
But,  allowing  that  the  notion  propounded  of  such  a  perfect 
military  drill  for  youth  at  school  is  to  be  taken  as  mere 
sanguine  theory  of  what  might  be,  can  we  suppose  that  a 
man  would  have  so  written,  or  have  had  such  a  theory,  that 
had  never  inarched  or  been  drilled  himself?  In  short,  the 
inference  would  be  very  strong  that  Milton  knew  something 
of  soldiering  practically,  even  if  we  were  to  forget  his  all 


1642-3.]  WAS  MILTON  IN  THE  ARMY?  481 

but  positive  statement,  in  the  last  of  his  Smectymnuan 
pamphlets,  that  at  the  time  of  his  writing  that  pamphlet 
(i.e.  in  the  spring  of  1642,  or  a  few  months  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War)  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
spending  a  part  of  each  day  in  military  exercise  some- 
where not  far  from  his  house  in  Aldersgate  Street.1 

The  conclusion  then  being  that  Milton  did  know  at  least 
a  little  something  of  soldiering,  by  drill  and  study,  before  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  the  question  arises,  Did  he  serve 
in  any  capacity,  after  the  war  began,  in  any  portion  of  the 
Parliamentary  army ;  or,  if  he  did  not  so  serve,  what  was 
the  cause  ? 

The  question  of  fact  is  settled  for  us  by  Milton  himself. 
In  his  Defensio  Secunda  pro  Popido  Anglicano,  published  in 
1654,  after  describing  the  outbreak  of  the  war  twelve  years 
before,  and  the  flocking  of  so  many  of  his  countrymen  then 
into  the  Parliamentarian  regiments,  he  adds  these  words : 
"  And  they  indeed,  in  such  manner  trusting  in  God,  repelled 
"  servitude  with  most  honourable  armed  exertion  ;  of  which 
"  praise  though  I  can  claim  no  part  as  mine,  yet  I  can  easily 
"  defend  myself  from  the  charge  either  of  timidity  or  of 
"  sloth,  should  any  such  be  brought.  For  I  did  not  so 
"  shun  the  labours  and  dangers  of  military  service  as  not, 
"  in  another  fashion,  both  to  do  work  for  my  countrymen  of 
"  a  much  more  useful  kind,  and  involving  no  less  danger, 
"  and  to  exhibit  in  trying  circumstances  a  mind  neither  ever 
"  downcast,  nor  unduly  afraid  of  any  form  of  public  odium, 
"  or  even  of  death  itself.  Having  from  my  earliest  youth 
"  been  devoted  in  a  far  more  than  ordinary  degree  to  the 
"  higher  studies  (humanwribus  sticdiis),  and  having  always 
"  been  stronger  mentally  than  in  body,  I  disregarded  camp- 
"  service,  in  which  any  common  soldier  of  more  robust  frame 
"  could  easily  have  been  my  superior,  and  got  means  about 
"  me  to  the  use  of  which  I  was  more  competent,  so  that  I 
"  might  in  what  I  thought  my  own  better  and  more  effective 
"  way,  or  at  least  not  inferior  way,  be  an  acquisition  of  iia 

much  momentum  as  possible  to  the  needs  of  my  country 

i  Seeaatf,  p.  402. 
VOL.  II  2  I 


482  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  and  to  this  most  excellent  cause.  My  feeling  therefore 
"  was  that,  if  God  willed  that  those  fighting  men  should  do 
"  such  illustrious  actions,  there  were  yet  others  by  whom  He 
"  wished  that  these  actions  should  be  expounded  and  set 
"  forth  proportionally  to  their  worth,  and  the  truth  so 
"  defended  by  arms  defended  also  by  reason,  which  is  the 
"  one  and  only  safeguard  truly  and  properly  human."  While 
this  passage  settles  the  main  fact,  however,  it  leaves  room 
for  inquiry  still  on  some  points.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
Milton's  recollection,  twelve  years  after  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War,  and  when  he  had  been  for  two  years  totally 
blind,  of  the  reasons  that  had  actuated  him  in  refraining 
from  military  service  ;  and  may  not  the  reasons  then  assigned 
have  been  rather  those  that  started  up  in  his  mind  as  he 
reflected  for  self-consolation  on  all  the  important  non-military 
work  done  by  him  in  the  interval  than  those  that  did 
actually  determine  his  absence  in  1642  from  the  musters 
of  the  Parliamentarian  Army  ?  In  the  second  place,  con- 
clusive though  the  passage  is  as  to  the  fact  of  his  absence 
from  those  musters  after  they  were  in  the  field,  the  specula- 
tion is  not  absolutely  foreclosed  that  he  did  attend  some  of 
them  tentatively  at  first,  and  had  to  resist  offers  that  would 
have  made  a  soldier  of  him  for  a  longer  period. 

In  connexion  with  this  last  speculation  there  is  a 
remarkable  statement  by  Edward  Phillips  in  his  Life  of  his 
uncle.  "  I  am  much  mistaken,"  says  Phillips,  "  if  there 
"  were  not  about  this  time  a  design  in  agitation  of  making 
"  him  Adjutant-General  in  Sir  William  Waller's  army." 
Phillips  seems  to  have  had  rather  a  hazy  recollection  of 
the  date  of  this  scheme ;  but,  if  there  ever  was  such  a 
scheme,  it  must  have  been  before  the  spring  of  1645,— 
after  which  Sir  Willaim  Waller  had  no  army,  and  no  com- 
mand in  any  one  else's  army.1  Nay,  if  there  was  such  a 

1  Phillips  distinctly  adds,  "  But  the  Army,"  to  be  spoken  of  hereafter,  was 

"  new  modelling  of  the  army,  soon  fol-  in  February  1644-5  ;   and  Sir  William 

lowing,  proved  an  obstruction  to  that  Waller,  with  Essex  and  others,  resigned 

design  ;  and  Sir  William,  his  commis-  his  commission  after  the  passing  of  the 

sion  being  laid  down,  began,  as  the  "  Self  -Denying  Ordinance  "  in  the  next 

common  saying  is,  to  turn  cat  in  nan."  month  or  the  next*  . 
The  famous   "New-modelling  of    the 


1642-3.]  WAS  MILTON  IN  THE  TRAINED  BANDS?  483 

scheme  for  bringing  in  Milton  in  any  army-post  under  Sir 
William  Waller,  no  time  was  more  likely  than  that  very 
month  of  June  1643  to  which  we  have  just  brought  down 
the  narrative  of  the  war.     Waller  was  then  at  his  highest  in 
reputation, — called  "William  the  Conqueror,"  and  looked  upon 
as  the  proper  man  to  supersede  Essex.     He  had,  in  fact,  just 
received  a  commission  from  Parliament  to  take  the  chief 
command  of  a  separate  army  to  be  sent  at  once  into  the 
south-west  to  cope  with  the  Marquis  of  Hertford  and  the 
victorious  Hopton.1     He  alone,  it  was  thought,  could  retrieve 
affairs  in  that  region,  and  his  commission  was  couched  in 
such  terms  that  Essex  afterwards  complained  of  it  as  deroga- 
tory to  his  dignity,  and  inconsistent  with  his  supremacy.2 
Either  then,  when  Waller  set  out  with  this  new  army  (June 
1643),  or  afterwards  when  he  was  in  the  field  with  it,  it  may 
have  occurred  to  some  that  it  would  be  well  to  have  on  his 
staff  a  few  staunch  men  of  as  thoroughgoing  principles  as 
himself.      But,  whatever  amount  of  probability  this  casts 
on  Phillips's  vague  reminiscence,  the  exact   form  of  it  is 
hardly  credible.     The  duties  of  the  Adjutant  to  a  single 
regiment  require  highly-trained  proficiency ;  and  the  Adju- 
tant-General of  a  whole  army  ought  to  be  about  the  most 
experienced  man  in  it.     To  have  thought  of  taking  Milton 
out  of  his   house   in   Aldersgate   Street   and   making   him 
Adjutant-General  to  Sir  William  Waller's  army  would,  there- 
fore,  have   implied   either   that   Milton's   friends   knew  of 
qualifications  of  his  in  the  way  of  prior  training  of  which 
all  record  has  now  perished,  or  that  they  had  a  most  marvel- 
lous faith  in  what  a  man  might  be  fit  for  after  a  few  months 
of  drill  under  Skippon,  aided  by  readings  in  ^lianus,  Poly- 
renuR,  and  Frontinus.     On  the  whole,  Phillips's  recollection 
seems  credible  only  to  this  extent,  that  some  time  or  other 
in  1643  or  1644  there  may  have  been  a  talk  among  some 
about  the  desirableness  of  bringing  Milton  into  the  army, 
and  that  Sir  William  Waller's  branch  of  the  army  may  have 
been  named  as  the  likeliest  to  suit  him.     Phillips  puts  his 
recollection  rather  positively  ;  and,  though  he  may  have  con- 

1  riar.  j.p.  399-401.  *  In  Oct.  1643:  see  Parl.  Il>t.  III.  177. 


484  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

fused  particulars,  he  is  not  likely  to  have  been  altogether 
wrong  about  such  a  fact  in  his  uncle's  life. 

For  ourselves,  we  should  have  sought  for  Milton  in  the 
Parliamentary  Army -Lists  in  some  much  lower  post,  to 
begin  with  at  least,  than  that  of  Adjutant-General  to  any 
chief  commander.  Nay,  we  have  sought  for  him  in  these 
Army-Lists.  We  even  thought  we  had  found  him : — The 
reader  remembers  the  Six  Eegiments  of  the  Trained  Bands 
of  the  City  of  London,  and  especially  the  so-called  Second 
or  White  Kegiment,  the  Colonel  of  which  was  Alderman 
Isaac  Pennington,  one  of  the  M.P.'s  for  the  City,  and 
(since  Oct.  1642)  Lord  Mayor  in  the  Parliamentary  interest. 
We  have  already  (ante,  p.  446)  given  an  account  of  the 
state  of  that  regiment,  nearly  1,200  strong,  and  of  the 
way  in  which  it  was  officered  towards  the  close  of  1642, 
and  probably  before  the  famous  march  of  the  Trained 
Bands  to  Turnham  Green.  But  we  reserved  one  or  two 
particulars.  In  the  contemporary  printed  fly-sheet  from 
which  we  quoted  the  names  of  the  chief  officers, — ISAAC 
PENNINGTON,  the  Colonel  ("the  usurper-mayor,"  I  find  him 
styled  in  the  ill-natured  Eoyalist  MS.  of  1643  to  which  I 
have  referred  as  making  game  of  the  Trained  Bands)  ;  GEORGE 
LANGHAM,  the  Lieutenant- Colonel ;  and  EGBERT  DA  VIES,  the 
Major  ("  a  slopmaker  for  seamen  near  Billingsgate,"  the  MS. 
spitefully  informs  us), — in  addition  to  these  names  we  have 
the  names  of  the  five  captains  and  of  all  the  other  officers 
down  to  the  ensigns.  The  names  of  the  five  Captains  may 
here  be  given.  They  were —  Thomas  Chamberlaine  ("  a  mer- 
chant, living  near  London  Wall  "),  Thomas  Player  ("  a  hosier, 
living  in  New  Fish  Street  Hill "),  Edmund  Harvey,  Chris- 
topher Whichcot  ("  a  merchant "),  and  Faith  G-ooday,  styled 
"  the  Colonel's  Captain."  The  names  of  the  Lieutenants  and 
Ensigns  the  reader  need  not  be  troubled  with,  save  that 
he  may  be  interested  in  knowing  that  one  of  the  Lieutenants 
was  a  "Timothy  Crusoe."  But  the  Quartermaster  of  a  regiment 
takes  rank  now,  and  seems  even  more  to  have  taken  rank 
then,  as  just  superior  to  ordinary  lieutenants.  Who  held 
this  post  in  the  Second  or  White  City  Eegiment  ?  "  JOHN 


1642-3.]  MILTON  NOT  IN  THE  AKMY.  485 

MKI.ION  is  Q  n  n  rt' rni  aster  to  Colonel  Pennington"  are  the 
words  in  the  fly-sheet  which  is  my  authority.  This  seemed 
decisive.  Milton,  as  we  shall  find,  in  his  later  life,  knew 
Pennington  intimately  ;  the  post  of  Quartermaster-Lieutenant 
in  Pennington's  city-regiment  was,  in  respect  of  rank,  just 
about  the  post  into  which  we  should  have  expected  Milton  to 
step  in  the  natural  course  of  things, — unless,  indeed,  they 
had  made  a  Captain  of  him  at  once.  True,  the  duties  of  a 
Quartermaster, — seeing  after  beer  and  bread -and-cheese  for 
the  men  when  they  are  out  on  march,  choosing  ground  and 
quarters  for  them  when  they  are  to  camp,  and  taking  care 
of  all  sorts  of  camp-accommodations, — are  not  the  duties 
that  we  should  fancy  most  to  Milton's  taste.  But,  in  real 
service,  they  are  most  important  duties,  and  a  man  who  had 
been  a  good  Quartermaster  for  a  little  time  would  find  him- 
self appreciated  and  be  in  training  for  higher  posts.  If  this 
Quartermaster  in  Colonel  Pennington's  regiment,  therefore, 
had  been  our  poet  Milton,  I  should  not  have  been  surprised. 
Almost  certainly,  however,  he  was  a  different  person.  That 
his  name  was  "  John  Milton  "  I  have  not  the  least  doubt : 
the  spelling  "  Melton  "  is  nothing,  and  happens  more  than 
once  in  the  poet's  family.  But  there  were  several  John 
Miltons  in  London,  besides  the  poet,  about  the  year  1642  ; 
and  the  Quartermaster  in  Pennington's  City-Regiment  in 
that  year  is  most  likely,  I  think,  to  have  been  a  "  John 
Milton  "  of  whom  we  hear  as  then  an  active  parishioner 
of  St.  Dunstan's-in-the-East,  whom  annals  of  that  parish 
actually  speak  of  as  then  or  shortly  afterwards  "  probably  a 
Captain  of  the  City  Trained  Bands,"  and  whose  signatures 
are  found  in  the  registers  of  that  parish  as  late  as  1650 
ami  1660,  when  he  styles  himself  " Major  John  Milton." 
These  signatures  have  been  facsimiled ;  they  are  those  of  a 
well-educated  man  :  and,  what  is  most  singular,  they  rather 
resemble  the  writing  of  the  poet  It  is  possible  that  this 
namesake  of  the  poet  may  also  have  been  a  relative.1 

1  See  facsimiles  of  thisJohn  Milton's  n  brief  :i]>]*<  ixlcd  account  <>f  tin- 

.res     in     Mr.     Loitfh    Sotheby's  (\>.  l-'U).     derived  partly  from  published 

/  '                         St.  DuuBtan's  Parish  l-y 

/            plateatp.124  ;  with  it«  Rector,  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Murr.v.  whi, 


486  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Even  if  we  should  have  had  to  conclude  that  the  "  Quarter- 
master John  Milton  "  of  Colonel  Pennington's  Eegiment  of 
City  Trained  Bands  was  undoubtedly  the  poet,  we  should 
have  had  to  report  that  the  appointment  was  but  momentary, 
and  that  at  no  time  from  the  actual  commencement  of  the 
war  was  Milton  out  with  the  Parliamentarian  army.  I  am 
sorry  that  such  was  the  fact,  and  cannot  quite  account  for  it. 
Milton  was  bound,  I  think,  if  any  man  in  England  was 
bound,  to  be  in  the  Parliamentary  army.  Cromwell  had 
become  a  captain  of  horse  at  the  age  of  forty-three ;  why 
should  not  Milton  too,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  have  become 
an  army -officer?  I  believe  there  is  some  unascertained 
reason  why  he  did  not  do  so,  and  that  the  reason  is  not 
merely  that  he  still  preferred  the  Muses  to  Mars  as  that  god 
had  now  appeared.  Had  he  not,  at  the  bidding  of  duty, 
forsworn  the  finer  muses  for  a  time,  and  postponed  his  poetic 
plans  to  become  a  prose  pamphleteer  ?  Was  pamphleteering 
such  congenial  work,  or  work  of  such  mighty  efficacy,  as  to 
be  preferred  by  a  man  of  mettle  to  great  camping  out  of 
doors,  and  moonlight  marching  along  country  roads,  and 
strange  siegings  of  strong  places,  and  the  sensation  of  the 
first  battle-Hash  from  the  enemy's  cannon  on  the  hill,  and 
the  whole  plain  thenceforward  astir,  and,  as  the  line 
advanced,  the  rising  thunder  of  some  conquering  psalm  ? 
If  I  know  Milton,  such  was  not  his  thought.  Why  he  was 
not  in  the  army  of  the  Parliament  remains,  therefore,  some- 
what of  a  mystery.  As  he  was  always  a  rather  haughty 
man,  of  fastidious  habits,  and  knowing  what  was  due  to  him, 
quartermastering  or  the  like  in  a  city -regiment,  under 
"  merchants,"  "  hosiers,"  and  "  slopsellers  for  seamen,"  may 
not  have  been  the  kind  of  soldiering  to  his  taste,  and  he 
may  have  waited  for  some  offer  or  solicitation,  like  that 
which  his  nephew  hints  at  in  his  story  of  the  Adjutancy- 
General  under  Sir  William  Waller,  but  which  never  came. 

The  proof  positive  that  Milton  was  not  in  the  Parliamentary 

died   in   1860,    and   partly   from    Mr.  mistake  a  signature  of  the  St.  Dunstan's 

Sotheby's     inspection    of    the    parish  parishioner,  met  with  in  certain  circum- 

registers.   A  person  not  well  acquainted  stances,  for  that  of  the  poet, 
with  the  poet's  autograph  might  easily 


1642-3.]  MILTON'S  TURNHAM  GREEN  SON  MI  487 

army  is  furnished  by  his  own  hand : — The  reader  remembers 
the  famous  march  of  the  Londoners  to  Turnham  Green  on 
the  12th  and  13th  of  November,  when  the  King,  advancing 
unexpectedly  from  Colnbrook,  had  taken  possession  of  Brent- 
ford, and  seemed  bent,  with  Rupert,  on  an  immediate  assault 
on  London.  After  the  Battle  of  Edgehill  and  skirmishes 
here  and  there  in  the  provinces,  this  threatened  assault  of 
London  was  the  first  real  incident  of  the  war.  It  was  the 
first,  at  any  rate,  that  brought  a  full  sense  of  the  war  to 
the  hearths  of  the  Londoners.  Well,  of  that  great  marching 
multitude  which  London  sent  out  on  the  western  road  by 
Kensington  and  Hammersmith,  as  far  as  Turnham  Green, 
to  fight  the  King  if  necessary,  and  drive  him  back  out  of 
Brentford,  Milton  was  not  one.  He  was  not  one  of  the 
"  brave  boys  "  to  whom  Skippon  addressed  his  pithy  speeches 
on  the  march  ;  he  was  not  one  of  those  who,  after  the  King 
had  retired  and  the  danger  was  over,  enjoyed  the  Sunday's 
picnic  of  triumph  on  Turnham  Green.  The  other  "  John 
Milton,"  the  parishioner  of  St.  Dunstan's-in-the-East,  was 
probably  there ;  but  the  Milton  of  Aldersgate  Street  was 
not  He  remained  in  his  house  in  Aldersgate  Street,  to 
take  the  chances  of  the  assault  should  Essex  and  Skippon 
not  be  able  to  arrest  the  King's  approach.  And  what  was 
he  doing  there  ?  Among  other  things  he  wrote  a  Sonnet. 
It  is  as  follows  : — 

When  the  Assault  was  intended  to  the  City. 

Captain,  or  Colonel,  or  Knight  in  arms, 

Whose  chance  on  these  defenceless  doors  may  seize, 

If  deed  of  honour  did  thee  ever  please, 

Guard  them,  and  him  within  protect  from  harms. 

He  can  requite  thee  ;  for  he  knows  the  charms 
That  call  fame  on  such  gentle  acts  as  these, 
And  he  can  spread  thy  name  o'er  lands  and  seas. 
Whatever  clime  the  sun's  bright  circle  warms. 

Lift  not  thy  spear  against  the  Muses'  bower  : 
The  great  Emathian  conqueror  bid  span- 
The  house  of  Pindarus  when  temple  and  tower 

Went  to  the  ground  ;  and  the  repeated  air 
Of  sad  Electra's  poet  had  the  power 
To  save  the  Athenian  walls  from  ruin  bare. 


488  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

The  copy  of  this  Sonnet  in  the  volume  of  Milton  MSS.  in 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  is  not  in  Milton's  own  hand,  but 
is  a  fair  copy  in  another  hand,  made  for  the  press  in  1645, 
when  it  was  first  printed.  The  heading  of  the  Sonnet  there, 
in  the  same  hand,  is  "  On  his  Door  when  the  City  expected  an 
Assault "  ;  but  this  heading  has  a  line  drawn  through  it,  and 
the  title  given  above  is  substituted  in  Milton's  own  hand. 
Did  Milton  actually  nail  up,  or  paste  up,  such  a  thing  as 
this  outside  his  door  in  Aldersgate  Street,  on  the  12th  or 
13th  of  November  1642,  and  himself  remain  withiri-doors 
to  take  the  benefit  ?  One  has  to  fancy  some  mood  of  jest, 
or  of  semi-jest,  in  the  whole  affair, — the  Sonnet  composed 
in  mere  whim,  or  in  answer  to  the  banter  of  some  neighbours 
who  had  challenged  him  to  it.  Jest  or  no  jest,  if  Eupert 
and  his  Cavaliers  had  come  into  London,  and  made  their 
way  to  Aldersgate  Street,  and  up  the  entry  there  where 
Milton's  garden-house  stood,  the  Sonnet,  we  fear,  would  not 
have  been  very  protective.  How  was  an  ordinary  Cavalier 
Captain  to  know  that  "  the  great  Emathian  Conqueror  "  was 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  that  "  sad  Electra's  poet "  was 
Euripides  ?  Or,  if  he  did,  was  he  likely  to  be  moved  by  the 
reasoning  that,  because  Alexander,  at  the  sack  of  Thebes, 
had  ordered  the  house  and  family  of  the  long- dead  poet 
Pindar  to  be  spared,  and  because  the  casual  repetition  of 
some  lines  from  Euripides  at  a  banquet,  when  the 
Lacedaemonians  proposed  to  destroy  Athens,  saved  the  city 
from  that  doom,  therefore  lie  was  not  to  break  open  this 
door  in  Aldersgate  Street  to  see  what  could  be  got  ?  And, 
if  the  door  had  been  broken  open,  for  the  sake  of  a  look 
at  the  self-proclaimed  poet,  what  if  any  copies  of  Milton's 
Anti-Episcopal  pamphlets  had  been  left  lying  about  inad- 
vertently ?  "  0  ho  !  "  the  Cavalier  Captain  might  then  have 
said  :  "  Pindar  and  Euripides  are  all  very  well,  by  G —  !  I've 
been  at  college  myself;  and,  when  I  meet  a  gentleman  and 
scholar,  I  hope  I  know  how  to  treat  him;  but  neither 
Pindar  nor  Euripides  ever  wrote  pamphlets  against  the 
Church  of  England,  by  G —  !  " 


April  1643.]        MILTON  AND  THE  SIEGE  OF  READING. 

The  war  having  rolled  away  from  London,  Milton  sat  on 
untroubled  in  his  house  in  Aldersgate  Street  through  the 
winter  of  1642-3  and  the  spring  of  1643.  The  teaching 
of  his  nephews,  his  own  readings  and  studies,  and  the 
observation  of  the  events  of  the  war  as  they  passed  round 
him  at  a  distance,  are  his  only  known  occupations. 
Interested  as  he  was,  on  public  grounds,  in  every  event  of 
the  war,  there  was  one  in  which  he  must  have  had  a  private 
and  peculiar  interest.  This  was  the  twelve  days'  siege  of 
Reading  by  Lord  Essex  (April  15 — 27,  1643). 

After  Milton  had  taken  up  his  residence  in  London,  his 
father  and  his  brother  Christopher  had  continued  to  make 
Horton  their  head-quarters.  Christopher's  law-studies  having 
been  concluded,  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  of  the  Inner  Temple 
on  the  26th  of  January  1639-40  *;  and,  on  the  llth  of 
August  1640,  I  find  this  entry  among  the  Baptisms  in  the 
Registers  of  Horton  Parish :  "  Sarah,  ye  daughter  of  Chris- 
topher and  Thomasin  Milton."  •  As  late  as  this  last  date, 
accordingly,  there  was  still  a  small  Milton  household  at 
Horton,  consisting  of  the  widowed  scrivener,  his  son 
Christopher  and  that  son's  wife,  and  now  a  little  daughter 
born  to  this  young  couple  in  place  of  their  lost  first-born 
of  the  year  before,  and  called  after  her  dead  grandmother 
that  lay  under  the  flags  in  the  old  church  near. 

For  some  reason  or  other,  however,  Christopher  and  his 
father  did  not  remain  much  longer  at  Horton.  There  is  no 
trace  of  the  Milton  household  in  that  quiet  Buckingham- 
shire parish  beyond  the  year  1640.  Before  the  end  of  that 
year,  or  at  all  events  in  the  next  year,  they  removed  from 
the  place  on  which  their  residence  has  conferred  so  many 
associations.  What  may  have  determined  their  choice  of 
another  place  cannot  be  ascertained ;  but  the  place  actually 
chosen  was  Reading.  In  the  Registers  of  the  parish  of 
St.  Laurence,  Reading,  there  is  the  record  of  the  baptism, 
Aug.  27,  1 641,  of  "  Anne,  daughter  of  —  Milton,  Esq."  This 

-  Milton,  Esq.,"  was,  in  all  probability,  our  Christopher 
Milton,  and  the  "  Anne "  a  child  born  to  him  at  Reading 

i  Note  from  tin-  I. ,.„•.•  Temple  l»ook«.  *  My  note*  from  the  Register. 


490  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

twelve  months  after  the  above-named  "  Sarah,"  who  had  been 
born  at  Horton.1  At  all  events  the  Horton  household  had 
about  that  time  removed  to  Eeading.  It  is  in  the  adjacent 
county  of  Berks,  about  twenty  miles  farther  from  London 
than  Horton  is,  and  nearer  Oxford. 

When,  therefore,  Beading  was  besieged  by  the  Parliamen- 
tarians in  April  1643,  Milton's  father,  and  his  brother,  with 
the  young  wife  and  one  or  two  children,  were  among  the 
inhabitants  shut  up  in  it  and  exposed  to  the  risks.  Chris- 
topher Milton,  who  had  not  adopted  his  brother's  political 
principles,  but  had  cast  in  his  lot,  as  a  young  lawyer,  with 
the  Royalists,  was  nominally  the  Reading  householder,  and  his 
father  was  ostensibly  boarding  with  him,  though  doubtless 
supplying  most  of  the  money.  The  siege,  therefore,  must 
have  been  a  matter  of  a  fortnight's  anxiety  to  Milton  in 
Aldersgate  Street ;  and  he  must  have  been  glad  when  it  was 
over,  and  no  harm  done  to  his  kindred.  By  the  Articles  on 
which  Colonel  Fielding  surrendered  the  place  to  Essex,  it  was 
provided  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  "  should  not  be 
"  prejudiced  in  their  estates  or  persons,  either  by  plunder- 
"  ing  or  imprisonment,  and  that  they  who  could  leave  the 
"  town  might  have  free  leave  and  passage  safely  to  go  to 
"  what  place  they  would,  with  their  goods,  within  the  space 
"  of  six  weeks  after  the  surrender."  2 

Christopher  Milton,  though  his  affairs  must  have  been 
dissettled  considerably  by  the  siege  and  surrender,  does  not 
seem  to  have  left  the  place  immediately,  but  to  have 
remained  in  it  for  some  brief  time  at  least,  to  take  his 
further  chances  as  a  confessed  Royalist.  It  was  obviously 
undesirable,  however,  that  old  Mr.  Milton,  who  was  probably 
more  of  his  elder  son's  way  of  thinking  in  politics,  should 
run  the  hazards  and  undergo  the  discomfort  of  living 
longer  on  the  frontier  between  Essex's  army  and  the  King's, 
where  there  might  be  more  disturbances  and  more  sieges. 
He,  accordingly,  did  take  the  benefit  of  the  Article  enabling 

1  I  owe  the  discovery  of  this  baptism  Christopher  Milton's  residence  there, 

entry  to  the  kindness  of  my  friend,  Mr.  He  was  indefatigable,  and  searched,  I 

Theodore  Waterhouse,  M.A.,  London,  believe,  all  the  parish  registers,  before 

who,    being    frequently    in    Reading,  coming  on  this  entry, 

searched,  at  my  request,  for  traces  of  2  Clarendon,  385. 


May  1643.]  MILTON'S  MARRIAGE.  491 

him  to  shift  his  quarters.  "  His  [Miltou's]  father,"  says 
Phillips,  "who,  till  the  taking  of  Reading  by  the  Earl  of 
"  Essex  his  forces,  had  lived  with  his  other  son  at  his  house 
"  there,  was,  upon  that  son's  dissettlement,  necessitated  to 
"  betake  himself  to  this  his  eldest  son." 

If  the  old  gentleman  left  Heading  within  the  six  weeks 
allowed  by  the  Articles,  he  ought  to  have  been  with  his 
son  in  Aldersgate  Street,  at  latest,  in  the  first  or  second 
week  of  June.  In  fact,  however,  he  did  not  arrive  at  the 
house  in  Aldersgate  Street  till  rather  late  in  the  summer 
of  1643.  Extraordinary  things,  he  then  found,  had 
occurred  in  the  house  before  his  arrival.  There  had  been 
a  wife  in  it,  with  a  bevy  of  her  sisters  and  bridesmaids ; 
and,  after  a  flutter  of  silks  and  muslins  through  every  room 
in  it,  they  had  all  vanished  again,  leaving  John  a  married 
man  certainly,  but  in  a  state  of  bewilderment  as  to  the 
amount  of  his  claim  to  that  character. 

"  About  Whitsuntide  it  was,  or  a  little  after,"  says  Phillips 
in  his  Memoir  of  Milton,  "that  he  took  a  journey  into  the 
"  country,  nobody  about  him  certainly  knowing  the  reason, 
"  or  that  it  was  any  more  than  a  journey  of  recreation.  After 
"  a  month's  stay,  home  he  returns  a  married  man  that  went 
"  out  a  bachelor :  his  wife  being  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter 
"  of  Mr.  Kichard  Powell,  then  a  Justice  of  Peace,  of  Forest- 
"  hill,  near  Shotover,  in  Oxfordshire."  This  is  very  succinct ; 
and  we  must  try  to  fill  in  the  details. 

The  reader  will  be  so  good  as  to  go  back  with  me  to  a  spot 
of  the  English  South-Midlands  to  which  there  was  occasion 
to  introduce  him  in  the  very  beginning  of  this  Biography, 
though  we  have  not  had  much  to  do  with  it  since :  viz.  the 
tract  of  country  lying  in  the  Hundred  of  Bullington  in 
Oxfordshire,  immediately  to  the  east  of  Oxford  city.  It  was 
in  that  tract  of  rich  and  pleasantly- wooded  country,  close  to 
Oxford,  that  we  sought  for  the  traces  of  Milton's  paternal 
ancestry.  Walking,  as  we  were  directed,  from  Oxford,  over 
Shotnvn-  Hill  and  the  ground  of  the  old  Forest  of  Shotover, 
we  found  ourselves  amid  a  group  of  villages  straggling  along 


492  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  cross  roads  for  a  space  of  five  or  six  miles,  and  none  of 
them  more  than  that  distance  from  the  University  city. 
Wheatley,  Halton,  Forest  Hill,  Stanton  St.  John's,  Elsfield, 
and  Beckley  were  the  principal  villages  of  the  group.  Search- 
ing among  those  villages  for  traces  of  Miltons  living  there, 
we  came  upon  them  plentifully  enough.  We  found  Miltons 
in  Beckley,  Miltons  in  Elsfield ;  above  all,  Miltons  in 
Stanton  St.  John's.  These  Miltons  of  Stanton  St.  John's, 
— related,  doubtless,  to  the  other  Miltons  round  about 
them, — turned  out  to  be  the  poet's  immediate  progenitors. 
A  Henry  Milton,  husbandman  of  Stanton  St.  John's, 
whose  homely  Eoman  Catholic  will  we  found,  dated  1558, 
and  whose  widow,  Agnes  Milton,  survived  him  two  years, 
turned  out  to  be  the  poet's  great-grandfather ;  and  one 
of  the  sons  of  this  pair,  a  "  Kichard  Milton  of  Stanton  St. 
John's,  yeoman,"  heard  of  in  documents  as  the  most  sub- 
stantial man  of  his  name  in  all  Oxfordshire,  and  as  a  resolute 
adherent  to  the  Koman  Catholic  faith,  was  the  poet's  grand- 
father, and  was  alive  certainly  as  late  as  1601, — by  which 
time  his  son,  John  Milton,  the  poet's  father,  whom  he  is  said  to 
have  cast  off  for  becoming  Protestant,  had  set  up  as  a  London 
citizen  and  scrivener  in  Bread  Street,  and  a  married  man.1 

Notwithstanding  the  rupture  with  his  father,  the  staunch 
Eoman  Catholic  yeoman  of  Stanton  St.  John's,  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  London  scrivener's  connexions  with  his  native 
Oxfordshire  had  been  totally  severed.  Though  nothing  may 
have  come  to  him  of  his  father's  property,  and  though  his 
ties  with  Oxfordshire  were  so  far  loosened  that,  when  he  sent 
his  son  to  the  University,  it  was  to  Cambridge  and  not  to 
Oxford,  he  is  likely  enough  to  have  kept  up  some  correspond- 
ence with  his  Oxfordshire  kindred.  He  may  have  visited 
his  old  home  occasionally,  and  so  have  been  led  into  business 
transactions  with  families  in  that  neighbourhood.  With  one 
such  family,  at  all  events,  he  did  have  business  transactions. 
This  was  a  family  of  the  name  of  Powell,  living  at  Forest 
Hill,  less  than  a  mile  from  Stanton  St.  John's,  and  about 
four  miles  from  Oxford.  What  we  know  of  this  family 
is  as  follows : — The  head  of  it  was  "  Eichard  Powell  of 

1  See  Vol.  I.  pp.  13—22. 


May  1643.]  Till:  POWELLS  OF  FOREST  HILL.  493 

Forest  Hill,  Esq.,  and  Justice  of  Peace  for  the  county 
of  Oxford,"  who  had  married  Ann  Moulton,  daughter  of 
"  Robert  Moulton  of  Honyborne  in  the  county  of  Wor- 
cester, gentleman."  The  mother  of  this  Ann  Moulton 
was  an  Archdale, — one  of  a  numerous  family  of  Archdales, 
originally  from  Stafford,  who  had  acquired  property  at 
aley  and  elsewhere  in  Oxfordshire.1  It  seems  to  have 
been  in  consequence  of  this  relationship  to  the  Archdales 
through  his  wife,  Ann  Moulton,  that  Kichard  Powell,  whose 
native  county  was  not  Oxford,  was  brought  into  that  county.2 
At  their  marriage,  the  date  of  which  is  not  ascertained,  but 
must  have  been  before  1621,  his  wife  brought  him  a  portion 
of  3,000/. ;  and  from  1621  onwards  he  is  heard  of  as  estab- 
lished in  Oxfordshire  and,  on  his  own  account  or  through 
his  wife,  a  person  of  some  note  there.  He  had  some  freehold 
property;  in  land,  cottages,  and  tithes,  at  Wheatley ;  but  his 
chief  estate  was  Forest  Hill,  the  manor  and  appurtenances  of 
which  he  had  purchased  from  Edmund  Brome,  Esq.,  by  a 
deed  dated  Oct.  2,  1621,  on  lease  for  a  term  of  twenty  years. 
The  lease  was  subsequently  extended  for  an  additional  term 
of  thirty-one  years,  or  till  the  year  1672,  by  another  deed 
executed  between  him  and  Brome,  July  21,  1623,  one  of  the 
conditions  of  which  was  the  payment  of  a  yearly  nominal 
chief-rent.8  Thus  resident  possessor,  though  not  actual  pro- 
prietor, of  the  mansion-house  and  estate  of  Forest  Hill,  he 

1  Archdale   Pedigree   in    Harl.   MS.  afterwards  of  Forest  Hill,  was  married, 

1476  (Visitation  of  London  in  1634),  f.  Feb.  24,  1605-6,  to  William  (Edward  < ) 

368.     See  also  Hunter's  Milton  Glean-  Jones   of  Sandford.      The    Rev.    Mr. 

ings,  p.  33.     "The  Archdales  in  all  pro-  Wyatt,  who  gave  me  this  information, 

'bability   were   possessed   of  the  old  tells  me  that  she  lived  till  An 

'mansion  not  far  from  the  centre  of  and  that  he  possesses  a  small  volume 

'  Wheatley  village,  about  1 A  miles  from  containing  many  MS.  notes  believed  to 

'  Forest  Hill :  on  the  eastern  part  of  it  be  in  her  hand.    The  Oxford  Antiquary 

'  there  is  the  date  1605,  and  the  initials  I  >r.  Bliss,  at  the  sale  of  whoso  library 

"  TAAA."     So  I  am  informed  by  the  in  1858  the  volume  was  purchased  l>v 

Rev.   C.    F.    Wyatt,    M.A.,    Vicar    of  Mr.   Wyatt,  had  written  in  it.   "Tin- 

Forest  Hill.  book  I  -n-j.i-ri  to  have  belonged  to.  :n,<l 

a  There  was,  however,  an  Oxfordshire  to  IK-  tilled  with  notes  by,  Mary  Jones, 

family  of   Powells,  long  in  possession  late  Powell,  the  aunt  of  Milton's  first 

of  the  manor  of  Snmli'onl.   -<,mo  four  wife." 

miles  distant  from  Forest  Hill  :  and  it  *  There  are,  I  am   informed,  many 

has  been  supposed,  though  not  proved,  i-ntrir-.    m    the    l-Wrst   Hill    Hapti>mal 

.ere  was  some  link  of  kin  In tween  Register,  of  children  of  this  Kdmund 

the  Forest  Hill  Powells  and  these  older  Brome,    IWi-H's    predecessor    in    the 

Powells  of  Sun.lfonl.  A  "Mary  Powell,"  estate.    He  was  dead  in  1628  ;  in  whi.  h 

born  July  27,   1584,  and  believed   to  year  his  will  was  proved  by  I: 

have  been  a  sisU  r  ..f  |;i< -hard  Powell,  Powell  as  his  Hole  executor. 


494  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

came  to  be  known  among  his  country  neighbours  as  Kichard 
Powell  of  Forest  Hill,  Esquire.  It  was  the  more  necessary 
to  distinguish  him  as  Squire  Powell  because  there  was 
another  Powell  in  the  parish,  named  Thomas  Powell,  who 
may  possibly  have  been  a  relative,  but  rather  appears  to  have 
been  a  parishioner  of  much  humbler  circumstances  than  his 
namesake  of  the  mansion-house  and  estate.1  Documents 
exist  from  which  it  may  be  calculated  that  the  Forest  Hill 
estate  and  mansion-house  were  worth  over  270/.  a  year  ;  and, 
as  the  Wheatley  property  was  valued  at  40/.  a  year,  Mr. 
Powell's  position  among  his  neighbours  will  be  indicated  by 
saying  that  he  was  a  gentleman  worth  at  least  310/.  a  year — 
equivalent,  say,  to  1,200/.  a  year  at  the  present  day.  There 
is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  this  would  be  an  under- 
estimate of  his  wealth  when  his  fortunes  were  at  the  highest. 
For  he  seems  to  have  had  other  properties  and  resources, 
to  have  lived  in  some  style,  and  to  have  been  of  a  rather 
speculative  turn  in  business. 

Mr.  Powell,  and  his  wife,  Ann  Moulton,  had  been  about 
six  years  in  possession  of  Forest  Hill,  and  several  of  their 
children  had  been  born,  when  there  was  that  business  trans- 
action between  Milton's  father  and  the  Powell  family  to 
which  we  have  referred.  It  is  all  the  more  interesting 
because  the  poet  himself  is  expressly  implicated  in  it.  The 
date  of  the  transaction  is  June  11,  1627  ;  at  which  time  the 
poet  was  a  youth  of  eighteen  years,  and  in  the  third  year  of 

1  The  Forest   Hill   Parish  Registers  family  of  Powells  in  Forest  Hill  distinct 

record  the  baptism  of  Frances,  a  daugh-  from  the  Powells  of  the  mansion-house, 

ter  of  this  Thomas  Powell,  on  the  21st  but  contemporary  with  them.     In  most 

of    May   1620  ;    the  baptism   of   twin  of  the  entries  in  the  Registers  relating 

daughters    of    his,    Ann    Powell    and  to  the  Squire's  family  he  is  carefully 

Marian  Powell,  Sept.  26,  1621,  and  the  styled  "Mr.  Powell,"  or  "Mr.  Richard 

burial  of  the  second  of  these  twins  two  Powell,"  or  "Richard  Powell,  gent.," 

days  afterwards  ;  the  baptism  of  a  son  or  "Mr.  Richard  Powell, Esq. ";  whereas 

of  the   same   Thomas   Powell,    named  the  other  Powell  invariably  appears  as 

William,  June  30,  1624  ;  then,  after  an  plain  "Thomas."    This  rather  discoun- 

interval  of  fifteen  years,  the  burial  of  tenances  the  idea  that  they  were  rela- 

" Thomas  Powell"  himself,  March  27,  tives.     At  all  events,  they  cannot  have 

1641.    A  later  entry  stands  thus  :"  The  been  brothers:   else  "the  mother  of 

mother  of  Thomas  Powell  was  buried  Thomas  Powell "  would  have  been  also 

June  2,  1642  "  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  a  the  Squire's  mother,  and  would  have 

still  later  entry — "  .  .  .  Powell  widdow  been  distinguished  as  such  in  her  burial 

was  buryed  Ffeb.  12,  1651  "—may  refer  entry.— For  the  extracts  from  the  Regis- 

to  the   widow  of  the  same  Thomas.  ters  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  C.  F. 

These  entries  prove  the  existence  of  a  Wyatt,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Forest  Hill. 


May  1643.]  THE  POWELLS  OF  FOREST  HILL.  495 

his  course  at  the  University  of  Cambridge.  On  that  day,  it 
appears,  Richard  Powell  of  Forest  Hill  in  the  county  of 
Oxford,  gent.,  and  William  Herne,  citizen  and  goldsmith  of 
London,  did,  "  by  their  writing  or  recognizance  of  the  nature 
of  a  statute-staple  ", — which  deed  was  executed  before  Sir 
Nicholas  Hyde,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  at 
Westminster, — "  acknowledge  themselves  to  owe  unto  John 
"  Milton,  then  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  gentleman,  son 
"  of  John  Milton,  citizen  and  scrivener  of  London,  the  sum  of 
"  500/.  of  lawful  money  of  England  "  ;  there  being  executed, 
however,  at  the  same  time,  another  deed  or  writing,  whereby 
the  scrivener,  acting  on  behalf  of  his  son,  "  defeazanced  "  the 
said  obligation  (i.e.  consented  that  it  should  be  null)  on  the 
payment  to  his  son,  or  his  executors,  administrators,  and 
assigns,  of  a  sum  of  312/.  on  the  12th  of  December  then  next 
ensuing.  The  meaning  of  the  transaction,  so  far  as  I  can 
interpret  the  old  law-terms,  is  substantially  this : — Mr. 
Powell  owed  to  the  Mil  tons,  on  some  account  or  other 
(whether  for  money  borrowed  or  otherwise  does  not  appear, 
nor  whether  the  debt  was  directly  to  the  son  or  only  to  him 
by  transfer  from  the  father J),  a  sum  equal,  in  immediate  pay- 
ment, to  312/.  or  thereabouts.  In  acknowledgment  of  this 
debt,  Mr.  Powell  gave  a  recognizance  for  500/.,  in  the  peculiar 
legal  form  known  as  "  statute-staple," 2  —taking  the  customary 
precaution,  however,  of  seeing  another  deed  executed,  by 
which,  if  he  paid  the  real  debt  of  312/.  within  six  months, 
the  recognizance  for  the  500/.  should  be  void.  Such  pay- 
ment, we  have  to  repeat,  was  not  made,  or  was  made  only  in 
part ;  and,  consequently,  from  the  12th  of  December  1627, 
Mr.  Powell  of  Forest  Hill  had  been  a  debtor,  or,  as  the  law 
called  it,  "  cognisor,"  to  Milton  for  a  considerable  sum.  The 
peculiar  advantage  to  a  creditor  who  was  a  "  cognisee,"  or 
creditor  by  the  form  of  recognizance,  was  that  his  claim  took 

1  Can  any  of  the  property  of  the  to   Mr.  Powoll,  ami   hence  the  reoog- 

old  Roman  Catholic  yeoman,  Richard  nizance. 

Milton   of   Stanton    St.   John's,    have  *  So  called  because  it  had  originally 

come,   by  will    or    otherwise,    to    his  been  a  form,  not  of  common  law,  but 

grandson  John  in  his  own  right  ?    If  of  the  law  of  specially  mercantile  trans- 


so,  and  the  property  were  near  Forest      actions,  as  administered  by  an  nnoitot 
lltli.  there  may  have  been  a  sale  of  it      court  called 


.n  .>f  EfUpIt, 


496  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

precedence  of  other  claims  upon  the  lands  and  goods  of  his 
debtor,  and  that,  by  a  prescribed  process,  he  might  obtain 
delivery  of  those  lands  and  goods  into  his  possession  till  the 
debt  were  satisfied.  It  is  a  fact,  therefore,  in  the  life  of 
Milton,  kept  in  reserve  by  us  till  now,  that,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  his  fourth  year  at  Cambridge,  when  he  had  just 
entered  on  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age,  he  had  had  a  legal 
claim,  to  the  extent  of  some  hundreds  of  pounds,  on  the 
lands  and  goods  of  Richard  Powell,  Esq.,  of  Forest  Hill  and 
Wheatley  in  Oxfordshire.1 

Why,  in  the  course  of  the  sixteen  years  that  had  elapsed 
since  1627,  the  claim  had  not  been  discharged,  nor  measures 
taken  by  Milton  or  his  father  to  secure  its  discharge,  is  a 
question  to  which,  with  the  information  we  have,  there  can 
be  no  definite  answer.  In  all  probability  the  state  of  Mr. 
Powell's  affairs  during  those  sixteen  years  had  not  been  such 
as  to  make  payment  of  the  debt  convenient.  There  are  on 
record,  at  all  events,  various  instances  in  which  Mr.  Powell 
appears,  during  those  sixteen  years,  as  a  borrower  of  other 
moneys.  On  the  10th  of  January  1631,  he  borrowed  from 
one  Edward  Ashworth  a  sum  of  40  O/.,  giving  him  as  security 
a  lease  for  ninety-nine  years  of  part  of  his  Wheatley  pro- 
perty. Again,  on  the  30th  of  June  1640,  we  find  that,  being 
then  already  in  debt,  for  300/.  of  money  borrowed,  to 
his  friend  Sir  Robert  Pye,  Knt.  (afterwards  member  for 
Woodstock  in  the  Long  Parliament,  and  eminent  as  a  Par- 
liamentarian), arid  Sir  Robert  having  again  assisted  him  at 
a  pinch  by  redeeming  with  1,000/.  a  lease  which  had  been 
forfeited  to  another  creditor,  named  George  Furseman,  Mr. 
Powell  acknowledged  this  double  debt,  with  100/.  of  con- 

1  The  authorities  for  the  statements  Milton,"    published    in    1859   by    the 

in  this  paragraph,  and  for  some  of  those  Camden  Society.     The  Powell  Family 

in  the  paragraph  preceding,  are  a  long  papers  form  an  Appendix  of  sixty  pages 

series   of  legal   documents   about   the  (pp.  75 — 134)  to  that  volume.    For  veri- 

Powell  Estate  (to  which  further  refer-  fication  of  the  particulars  in  the  text 

ence   will    have    to    be    made   in  the  hitherto,     see     especially     Documents 

sequel),  printed  in  part  by  Todd  in  his  III.,  XV.,  XVI.,  and  XXVII.  of  that 

account  of  the  Life  of  Milton  (Milton's  Appendix  ;  also  Todd  ut  supra,  pp.  52 — 

Poetical  Works  by  Todd:   ed.   1852:  54.      The   originals  of  the  Papers,  so 

Vol.  I.  pp.  44—60),  but  for  the  first  quoted  in  part  by  Todd,  and  fully  by 

time   completely  by   Mr.  W.  Douglas  Hamilton,  are  among  the   "Composi- 

Hamilton  in  his  "  Original  Papers  illus-  tion  Papers  of  Royalists,"  preserved  in 

trative  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  John  the  State  Paper  Office. 


May  1643.]  THE  POWELLS  OF  FOREST  HILL.  497 

sideration  for  the  advance,  by  mortgaging  to  Sir  Robert  his 
mansion  and  manor  of  Forest  Hill  for  a  sum  of  1,400/., 
the  mortgage  to  be  void  if  1,510/.  were  paid  to  Sir  Robert 
on  July  1,  1641.  Not  only  was  no  such  payment  made,  but, 
on  the  18th  of  December  1641,  we  find  Mr.  Powell  again  a 
borrower  of  300/., — this  time  from  Sir  Edward  Powell,  Bart, 
(probably  a  relative) ;  to  whom  he  assigned  in  consequence 
a  twenty-one  years'  lease  of  certain  lands  in  Wheatley.1 

As  a  set-ott'  against  these  awkward-looking  transactions, 
take  two  glimpses  of  the  Powells  in  their  more  public  re- 
spectability as  a  county  family.  (1)  One  naturally  looks  for 
them  in  the  Visitation  of  Oxfordshire  in  1634  by  John 
Philipot,  Somerset  Herald,  and  William  Tyler,  Blue  Mantle, 
pursuivant  of  arms.  Had  they  been  there,  we  should  have 
had  their  arms  and  pedigree  along  with  the  arms  and  pedi- 
grees of  all  the  other  important  Oxfordshire  families.  We 
might  in  that  case  have  known  more  of  their  connexions 
and  circumstances  than  we  do.  Their  absence  from  that 
Heralds'  Visitation,  however,  though  a  little  unfortunate  for 
us,  does  not  militate  against  their  social  rank.  For,  in  the 
Visitation  Books,  there  is  this  note,  distinctly  explaining  it : 
"  Memorandum :  that  Richd.  Powell  of  Forest  Hill  in  com. 
"  Oxford,  Justice  of  ye  peace  in  com.  supradict.,  being  upon 
"  business  in  that  quality  when  he  should  have  appeared  at 
"  Oxford,  sent  ye  King  of  Arms'  fees,  desiring  respit  to 
"  perfect  those  matters  that  concern  his  arms  and  descent 
"  at  the  Heralds'  office  in  Michaelmas  term  next ;  which 
"  was  granted  at  Thame,  2 1  Aug.  1634." 2  (2)  Confirming  the 
impression  thus  received  of  Mr.  Powell's  rank  among  the 
Oxfordshire  squires,  and  also  verifying  our  hint  that  he 
was  of  a  speculative  turn,  are  records  of  a  bargain  of  his 
in  1636  and  1637  respecting  the  coppices,  or  young  planta- 
tions, of  Shotover  Forest  and  Stow  Wood.  The  reader  may 
here  remember  the  tradition,  through  Aubrey  and  Wood, 
that  Richard  Milton,  the  poet's  grandfather,  and  his  ances- 
tors before  him,  had  been  under-rangers  or  keepers  of  this 

1  For  authentication  of  the  particu-       XVIII..  \\..   u.  I  XVII. ,  in  Appendix. 
this  paragraph,  nee  Hamilton's  lion  "f  Ox 

..ors:      chiefly     document*       fordahire,  ItWi),  f.  111. 

VOL.  II.  -   K 


498  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

royal  forest.1  If  so,  they  had  probably  been  more  efficient 
in  their  duty  than  their  successors  were.  For  the  coppices, 
it  appears,  had  since  their  time  "  been  much  spoiled  and 
"  decayed,  and  many  of  the  stems  and  stowells  dead  and 
"  worn  out,  so  that  in  truth  they  did  not  bear  the  name  of 
"  coppices,  but  were  generally  very  thin  and  mean  shere- 
"  wood,  and  had  of  late  years  received  much  detriment  by 
"  reason  of  ill  fences  and  the  daily  trespasses  of  the  keepers, 
"  and  by  the  fall  of  trees  and  other  abuses."  Such  had  been 
the  damage,  indeed,  that  it  was  thought  it  would  take  eight 
or  ten  years  at  least  to  bring  the  coppices  round  again  into 
a  paying  condition,  and  meanwhile  there  would  be  a  great 
charge  in  repairing  fences  and  the  like.  Dr.  Bancroft,  then 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  had  had  his  attention  called  to  the  sub- 
ject through  the  fact  that,  having  been  building  at  his  own 
expense  a  fine  episcopal  residence  at  Cuddesdon,  close  to  the 
Forest,  he  had  received  permission  to  take  a  fixed  quantity 
of  timber  from  it.  Accordingly,  the  Bishop,  and  Dr.  Duppa, 
then  Dean  of  Christchurch,  with  one  or  two  other  Oxford 
Doctors  of  Divinity,  having  taken  counsel  together,  and  with 
Mr.  Powell  of  Forest  Hill  (who,  indeed,  may  have  been  the 
prime  mover  in  the  affair),  representations  were  made  to 
his  Majesty,  and  indentures  were  drawn  out  to  this  effect : 
The  Bishop  and  his  successors  in  office  were  to  have  a  lease 
of  the  said  coppices  for  sixty  years,  paying  no  rent  for  the 
first  ten  years,  but  an  annual  rent  to  the  Crown  of  100/. 
afterwards  ;  and  Mr.  Powell  was  to  have  a  sublease  for  fifty- 
nine  years  under  the  Bishop,  paying  no  rent  for  the  first 
ten  years,  but  paying  afterwards  not  only  the  main  rent  of 
100/.  to  the  King,  but  also  1001.  a  year  to  the  Bishop.  The 
bargain  was  settled  in  two  indentures,  one  dated  July  8, 
1 6 3  6,  and  the  other  March  3  0,  1 6  3  7.2  Part  of  Mr.  Powell's 


1  Vol.  I.  pp.  8—10  and  19—20. 

2  Mr.  Powell  had  had  earlier  business 
transactions    with     Bishop     Bancroft. 

'  From  a  document  in  the  Diocesan 
'  Registry  at  Oxford  it  would  appear 
'  that  Richard  Powell  of  Forest  Hill 
'  in  the  county  of  Oxford,  Esquire, 


'  church  (Principal  of  Hart  Hall),  were 
'  witnesses  in  the  chancel  of  Cuddes- 
'  don  to  the  confirmation  of  John 
'  (Bancroft),  Bishop  of  Oxford,  as  to 
'  the  holding  of  Cuddesdon  i\ 


^n  com- 


'  mendam,   vacant    by   the    death    of 
<  Edmund  Underbill,  Feb.  27,  1632." 


'  and  Thomas  lies,   Professor  of  Di-       —Note  to  me  from  the  Rev.   C.   F. 
'  vinity,   and   Prebendary  of  Christ-       Wyatt,  of  Forest  Hill. 


May  1643.]  THE  POWELLS  OF  FOREST  HILL,  499 

occupations,  therefore,  from  1636  onwards  must  have  been 
looking  after  all  the  coppices  or  growing  wood  of  Shotover 
Forest,  so  that  in  due  course  he  might  make  something  of 
his  investment.  The  large  trees  or  timber  trees  were  not 
included  in  the  bargain.1 

Before  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  therefore,  we  can  see 
th<  Powell  family,  distinctly  enough,  as  an  Oxfordshire  family 
of  good  standing,  keeping  up  appearances  with  the  neighbour- 
gentry,  and  probably  more  than  solvent  if  all  their  property 
had  been  put  against  their  debts,  but  still  rather  deeply  in 
debt,  and  their  property  heavily  mortgaged.  There  were 
then  twelve  or  thirteen  of  the  family  in  all, — Mr.  Powell 
himself  and  his  wife  Ann  (nte  Moulton),  and  ten  or  eleven 
children.  Here,  from  the  Parish  Registers  of  Forest  Hill,  are 
the  names  of  all  the  children  in  their  order,  and  the  dates 
of  their  baptisms  : — 

(1.)  "Richardus  Powell,   filius  Richardi   Powell,  gen.,   baptizatus 

fuit  X°  die  Junii  ao  pdicto"  [sc.  1621]. 
(2.)  "Jacobus,  filius  Richardi  Powell,  gen.,  et  Annae,  uxoris  ejus, 

baptizatus  fuit  quinto  die  Octobris,  1623." 
(3.)  "  Marie  Powell,  the  daughter  of  Richard  Powell,  baptized  the 

XXIVth  day  of  Januarie,  1625." 
(4.)  "  Zara,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell,  was  baptized  the 

XXVth  of  September,  1627." 
(5.)  "  Mrs.  Ann  [originally  written  Mary  by  mistake,  and  corrected 

thus  quaintly,  in  order,  probably,  to  save  the  initial  M.]  Powell, 

the  daughter  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell  of  Forest  Hill,  gent.,  was 

christned  June  the  18th,  1626"  [clearly  1626  in  the  Register; 

but  is  it  a  mistake  for  1628  ?]. 
(6.)  "  Mr.  John  Powell,  the  sonne  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell,  of  Forrest 

Hill,  gent.,  was  baptized  November  8th,  1629." 
(7.)  "  Mr.  William  Powell,  ye  sonne  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell,  gent., 

was  baptized  March  ye  1,  1630." 
(8.)  "  Mr.  Archdale  Powell,  the  sonne  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell,  was 

baptized  Aprill  the  25th,  1633." 
(9.)  "Elizabeth,   daughter  of    Mr.    Richard    Powell,    Esqr.,    was 

baptized  ye  15th  June,  1635." 
(10.)  "George  Powell,  ye  son  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell,  Esqr.,  was 

baptized  January  the  16th,  1636." 
(11.)  "Elizabeth  Powell,  ye  daughter  of  Mr.  Powell,  Esqr.,  was 

baptized  the  22  day  of  Aprill,  1639."  2 

1  Hunter's  Milton  Gleanings,  pp.  29          2  These  extract*   from    the    Parish 

Registers  m  I  1 1  ill  have  been  most 


500  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS   TIME. 

Of  the  six  sons  in  this  list,  the  eldest,  Eichard,  who  was 
twenty-one  years  of  age  when  the  Civil  War  began,  and  the 
second,  James,  who  was  then  nearly  nineteen,  had  been  for 
some  time  matriculated  in  Oxford  University  as  students 
of  Christchurch.1  As  it  was  but  an  hour's  walk  between 
Oxford  and  Forest  Hill,  the  two  young  men,  even  after  they 
became  Oxonians,  were  probably  as  much  at  home  as  in 
college,  so  that  the  Forest  Hill  mansion-house  had  to 
accommodate  a  large  family,  of  all  ages  from  babyhood 
upwards.  The  house  no  longer  exists ;  but  any  one 
interested  in  Milton  may  visit  the  site  where  it  stood,  just 
off  the  high-road,  on  the  left  hand  if  you  have  started  from 
Oxford,  near  the  pretty  church  and  vicarage  of  Forest  Hill, 
lying  quietly  on  their  steepish  slope,  and  with  the  village 
nestling  higher  and  lower  behind.  Moreover,  there  are 
records  which  enable  us  to  fancy  what  kind  of  a  house  it 
was,  to  count  its  rooms,  name  them  as  they  were  named 
by  the  family  while  they  lived  in  it,  and  even  judge  of 
their  furnishing.  There  was  "  the  hall "  ;  there  were  "  the 
great  parlour,"  "  the  little  parlour,"  "  the  matted  chamber," 
"  the  chamber  over  the  hall,"  "  the  chamber  over  the  little 
parlour,"  "  the  two  little  chambers  over  the  kitchen,"  "  the 
little  chamber  over  the  pantry,"  "  the  study  or  boys'  cham- 
ber," "  Mrs.  Powell's  chamber,"  "  Mrs.  Powell's  closet,"  "  the 

courteously  furnished   me,  with  other  l  In  a  note  at  p.  127  of  the  Life  of 

information,  all  in  most  exact  form,  by  Anthony  Wood,  published  in  1848,  as 

the  present  Vicar  of  Forest  Hill,  the  the  first  volume  of  an  intended  reissue 

Rev.   C.  F.  Wyatt,  M.A.— It   will   be  of   Wood's   Athene?    Oxonienses  by  the 

noted  that  there  are  two  Elizabeths  in  Ecclesiastical     History     Society,     the 

the   list  (Nos.  9  and    11).     There   are  editor,  Dr.  Bliss,  gives  the  matricula- 

instances  of  two  children  of  the  same  tion  entries  of  the  two  young  Powells 

name,  both  surviving,  in  one  family  ;  from  the  University  Register,  as  fol- 

but  it  is  likely  that  the  first  of  these  lows:— "1636.    Mar.  10.   ^Edes Christi, 

Elizabeths   died   in   infancy,   and   was  Thomas  Powell,  Oxon.,  fil.  1.  us.  Rich'i 

buried  somewhere  else  than  at  Forest  Powell   de   Fforest   Hill   in   com.   p'd. 

Hill,    and  that  the   second  inherited  arm.,  an.  nat.  14";  "1640.    Maii  18. 

her  name.— As  late  as  1649,  we  cer-  Jacob.  Powell,  Oxon.,  fil.  Rich'i  Powell 

tainly  know  (Hamilton's  Milton  Papers,  de   Fforest   Hill  in  com.  Oxon.  arm., 

p.    80),    nine    of    the   Powell   children  an.  nat.  14."     The  Thonias  in  the  first 

were  alive  :  possibly,  therefore,  ten,  or  entry  is  clearly  a  mistake  for  Richard; 

all  in  the  list  except  the  first  Elizabeth,  and  in  both  cases  the  age  at  matricu- 

were  alive  at  the  date  with  which  we  lation  is  understated.    In  March  1636-7 

are  now  concerned,  i.e.  in  1643.     We  Richard  Powell,  the  eldest  son,  was  in 

also  know  independently  that  Richard,  his  sixteenth  year  ;   and  in  May  1640 

who  appears  first  in  the  list,  was  the  James,    the    second    son,    was   in   his 

eldest  son  and  heir.     The  list,  I  have  seventeenth, 
little  doubt,  gives  the  complete  family. 


May  1643.]  THE  POWELLS  OF  FOREST  HILL.  501 

room  next  the  closet,"  "  the  room  over  the  washhouse,"  and 
"Mr.  Powell's  study ", — in  all  fourteen  sitting-rooms  and 
bed-rooms  for  the  family  and  guests ;  in  addition  to  "  the 
kitchen,"  "  the  servants'  chamber,"  "  the  pastry,"  "  the  pantry," 
"  the  bakehouse,"  "  the  brewhouse,"  "  the  dairy-house,"  "  the 
cellar,"  "  the  stilling-house  "  (where  they  made  essences  and 
strong  waters),  "  the  cheese-press  house,"  and  "  the  wool 
house."  The  stables,  yards,  barns,  and  gardens  are  to  be 
imagined  round  about,  all  sufficiently  stocked.  We  hear 
particularly  of  "  two  coaches,"  "  one  wain  and  four  carts," 
and  an  unusual  quantity  of  "  timber "  and  "  firewood "  in 
different  states :  this  last,  doubtless,  a  consequence  of  Mr. 
Powell's  dealings  with  the  Forest.  The  best  room  in  the 
house,  it  is  worth  noting,  or  at  least  the  best  furnished,  was 
Mrs.  Powell's  own  room  ;  after  which,  in  order  of  importance, 
came  "  the  room  over  the  washhouse,"  "  the  great  parlour," 
and  "  the  matted  chamber " ;  while  Mr.  Powell's  study, 
I  find,  ranked  but  eleventh  in  point  of  style  and  furnishing, 
and  was  used  moreover  as  a  stow-room  for  linen.  There  are 
other  reasons  for  thinking  that  Mrs.  Powell  was  the  ruling 
spirit  of  the  family,  and  remembered  that  she  was  a  Moulton 
or  a  Moulton- Archdale,  and  had  brought  her  husband  3,000/., 
which  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  him  to  reproduce 
on  demand.1 

"  Heigho  !  those  horrid  civil  broils  !  "  poor  Mr.  Powell  may 
have  thought,  ruminating  in  his  study  beside  the  household 
linen,  or  walking  amid  his  stores  of  cut  wood,  or  among 
the  coppices  he  leased,  moody  about  his  debts.  For  he  had 
to  take  a  side,  and  which  side  he  should  take  was  hardly  in 
his  option.  From  November  1642  Oxford  was  the  King's 
head-quarters.  He  held  his  court  in  person  in  Christchurch  ; 

1  The  authority  for  tho   {mrticulan  ventory  was  310/.  12».  2rf.— equivalent 

in  this  paragraph  i«  an  inventory  of  the  to  over  1,0001.  now.     But  the  circum- 

household  goods,  &«.,  at  Forest  Hill  stances  were  such  that  the  goods  were 

made  June  16, 1646,  in  circumstances  then  appraised  at  far  under  their  true 

to  be  described  hereafter.     See  copy  in  value,— probably  at  less  than  huh.      A 

Hamilton's  Milton  Papers:  Document  very  largo  proportion  of  tho  total  value 

\\\  I.   Appendix  (pp.  92—94).     The  —more  than  a  half  in  fact— was  set 

total  valuation  of  the  goods  in  that  in-  down  to  the  wood  and  timber. 


502  LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

the  city  was  full  of  his  adherents,  and  wild  with  Eoyalist 
enthusiasm ;  the  Colleges  were  all  unsettled,  and  their  plate 
going  to  the  crucible  for  his  Majesty's  use ;  studies  were  all 
but  suspended,  and  the  younger  Fellows  and  Undergraduates 
were  vociferous  at  their  daily  drill.  The  Royalist  excite- 
ment extended  over  the  country  round,  and  Forest  Hill  was 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  whirl.  One  sees  the  three  or 
four  miles  of  high-road  between  Oxford  and  Forest  Hill 
unusually  astir  with  signs  of  Eoyalism  :  young  King's  officers 
at  gallop,  and  companies  out  marching,  hurrahing,  and  sing- 
ing loyal  songs.  Even  had  not  Mr.  Powell  been  a  King's 
tenant,  what  could  he  be  but  a  Eoyalist  ?  Very  probably,  in 
the  overcrowded  state  of  Oxford,  he  had  King's  men  billeted 
upon  him ;  and,  more  certainly,  he  must  have  contributed, 
like  his  neighbours,  voluntarily  or  not,  to  the  King's  cause 
in  money  or  other  supplies.  "  Heigho  !  this  horrid  Civil 
War ! "  must  have  been  the  poor  man's  private  exclamation. 
Mrs.  Powell  and  the  young  people,  on  the  other  hand, 
may  have  been  more  heartily  Eoyalist.  Very  probably, 
the  two  eldest  sons,  Eichard  and  James,  turned  out  from 
their  rooms  in  Christchurch  with  the  rest  when  the  King 
took  up  his  abode  in  that  College,  had  taken  to  soldier- 
ing in  one  of  the  University  companies.  For  the  young 
ladies,  too,  it  was  a  changed  world.  For  them  it  was  not 
a  mere  clerical  Oxford  that  was  at  hand,  solemn  with  gowns 
and  hoods,  but  an  Oxford  of  scarlet  sashes,  military  music 
and  military  balls,  enlivening  the  whole  country,  and  flashing 
its  particles  all  day  long  past  Forest  Hill  gate  in  the  persons 
of  couriers  and  cavaliers. 

It  was  about  Whitsuntide  164 3,  according  to  Phillips,  that 
Milton  left  his  house  in  Aldersgate  Street,  London,  for  a 
journey  into  the  country,  nobody  about  him  certainly  knowing 
the  reason.  Now,  in  the  year  1 643,  Whit-Sunday  (the  seventh 
Sunday  after  Easter)  fell  on  the  21st  of  May;  and  Milton's 
Whitsun  holiday  extended,  it  is  said,  over  a  month.  Of  all 
places  in  the  world  Forest  Hill  was  the  last  where  anybody 
that  knew  him  would  have  expected  to  hear  of  his  spending  it. 
For  one  thing,  communication  between  London  and  the  King's 


May  1643.]         MILTON '8  MARRIAGE :    MARY  POWELL.  503 

quarters  at  Oxford  was  not  then  so  easy :  passes  were  required 
on  both  sides,  and  persons  coming  and  going  ran  risks.1  But, 
even  with  a  pass,  for  Milton  to  venture  into  the  neighbourhood 
of  Oxford, — MILTON,  the  Anti-Episcopal  pamphleteer,  and 
altogether  one  of  the  most  marked  of  extreme  Parliamen- 
tarians out  of  Parliament :  why,  it  was  venturing  into  the 
camp  of  the  Philistines !  And  yet,  it  appears,  this  is  what 
Milton  did.  Making  his  way  through  all  the  Royalist  bustle 
of  Oxford,  he  presented  himself,  we  are  to  suppose,  some  day 
late  in  May,  at  the  gate  of  the  Forest  Hill  mansion,  was 
received  into  that  nest  of  Royalists,  and  not  only  received 
but  invited  to  stay,  and  accommodated,  as  a  guest  for  a  whole 
month,  with  one  of  the  spare  rooms, — whether  with  "  the 
matted  chamber,"  as  the  best,  or,  if  that  was  preoccupied 
by  some  King's  officer,  with  "  the  chamber  over  the  little 
parlour,"  as  the  next  best:  during  which  month  (and  this 
is  the  crowning  marvel)  matters  were  so  managed  that,  when 
he  went  away,  he  took  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  house  with 
him  as  his  wife  !  It  was  a  mystery  to  his  nephews,  the  two 
boys  Phillips,  whom  he  had  left  in  London ;  and  it  is  a 
mystery  to  all  of  us  yet.  When  he  left  Aldersgate  Street, 
did  he  know  that  he  was  going  to  Forest  Hill,  and  only 
keep  the  thing  secret  to  avoid  gossip  ?  Or  did  he  purpose 
only  to  go  to  Reading,  to  see  his  father  and  brother  after 
the  siege  of  that  place, — the  capitulation  of  Reading  to 
the  Parliamentarians  having  taken  place  but  three  weeks 
before ;  and  was  his  going  on  to  Oxford  an  afterthought, 
suggested  by  talk  with  his  father  ?  In  either  case,  what 
was  his  object  in  going  ?  Was  it  to  look  after  that  debt  of 
5 DO/,  which  had  been  owing  to  him  for  sixteen  years  by 
Mr.  Powell,  and  the  chances  of  the  payment  of  which  were 
getting  less  with  the  new  derangement  of  Mr.  Powell's 
atlaiix  '  Did  he  come  seeking  his  500/.,  and  did  Mrs. 
Powell  heave  a  daughter  at  him  ?  Or,  once  he  was  in  the 

1  .l:m.  li>.  1642-3,  there  was  an  order  London   should    bo    treated    as   spie« 

of  the  Commons  that  no  carrier  or  wag-  (Rush  worth,  V.  117).     Again,  in  July 

goner  should  go  to  Oxford  or  elsewhere  1643,  there  was  a  royal  |ir»danmti<-n, 

without  special  licence,  and  that  ser-  from  Oxford,  forbidding  all  commerce 

vanta  of  Royalists  in  arms  coming  to  with  London. 


504  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF  HIS   TIME. 

house,  did  it  all  come  about  naturally ;   a   sweet   country 
girl,  bashful  in  his  presence  amid  her  brothers  and  sisters  ; 
morning  walks  amid  woods  and  fields  when   blooming  May 
was  passing  into  leafy  June ;   evenings  mild  and  still,  in 
which  to  saunter  about  near  the  house,  till  the  air  browned 
over  the  land,  and  two  persons  casually  together  could  listen, 
as  it  darkened,  for  the  songs  of  the  nightingales  ?     And  so 
did  it  happen  that  he  who  had  once  or  twice  before  in  his 
life  confessed,  rather  seriously,  to  love's  wound, — once  in  his 
twentieth  year,  when  a  fair  form  passed  him  in  a  London 
crowd  and  was  seen  no  more, l  and  again,  in  his  thirty-first 
year,  when  the  society  of  some  stately  black-eyed  Italian 
near  Bologna  taught  him  the  power  of  the  southern  type  of 
beauty  and  made  him  prefer  it  for  the   time  to  the  blonde 
complexions  of  his  own  north  2, — did  it  so  happen  that  he, 
arrived  now  at  an  age  when  marriage  with  somebody  or 
other   must   have   been   more   and   more   in   his   thoughts, 
yielded  to  the  opportunity  that  circumstances  had  brought 
about,  and,  resigning  all  the  vague  dreams  of  more  splendid 
somebodies  that  there  might  be  in  the  world,  ended   the 
quest  at  once  by  putting  his   arm  round  the  simple  waist 
that  was  attainable  ?     Father  and  mother  being  willing,  for 
whatever  reasons,  a  whisper  to  Mary  Powell,  in  the  garden 
or  amid  the  timber-stacks,  may  have  settled  everything.      Or, 
after  all,  had  he  been  already  for  some  time  engaged  to  her, 
and  had  he  come  to  redeem  his  engagement  ?     This  is  not 
an  unnatural  hypothesis.     It  has  even  been  suggested  by 
Todd  that  a  marriage  between  Milton  and  Mary  Powell  may 
have  been  arranged  between  the  two  families  while  she  was 
a  child,  and  that  Mr.  Powell's  recognizance  in  1627  of  a  debt 
of  500/.  to  the  young  Cambridge  student  may  have  apper- 
tained  somehow   to   the   contract.     The    suggestion    seems 
totally  absurd;   but  one  may  fairly  suppose  that,  even  if 
there  were  not  already  relations  between  the  two  families 
before  the  recognizance,  some  acquaintanceship  between  them 
may  have  followed  from  it.     In  that  case  we  need  not  sup- 
pose this  visit  of  Milton  at  Whitsuntide  1643  to  have  been 

1  See  Vol.  I.  pp.  188—190.  2  Vol.  I.  pp.  824-829. 


May  1643.]         MILTON'S  MARRIAGE  :    MARY  POWELL.  505 

his  first  visit  to  Forest  HilL  He  may  have  been  there 
l>etbre, — at  the  time,  for  example,  of  his  incorporation  into 
Oxford  University  in  1635.  And  so  Mary  Powell  in 
her  childhood  may  not  have  been  quite  a  stranger  to 
him  ;  and  it  is  just  possible  that,  when,  in  the  course  of  the 
Smectymnuan  controversy,  he  was  twitted  by  Bishop  Hall 
and  his  son  with  looking  after  "  a  rich  widow,"  and  he  took 
the  trouble,  in  retorting,  to  explain  that,  when  he  did  marry, 
he  would  "  choose  a  virgin  of  mean  fortunes,  honestly  bred, 
before  the  wealthiest  widow,"1  some  recollection  of  Mary 
Powell  may  have  been  in  his  mind.  On  the  whole,  however, 
the  evidence  is  decidedly  against  the  notion  of  any  long  pre- 
engagement.  Phillips's  account  of  the  marriage  conveys  the 
distinct  impression  that  it  was  a  hurried  and  unexpected  affair. 
Wood  also,  writing  from  Aubrey's  information,  but  who  was 
himself  near  enough  to  Forest  Hill  to  have  learnt  something 
about  the  Powells  directly,  conveys  the  same  impression. 
"  He  in  a  month's  time,"  says  Wood,  "  courted,  married,  and 
"  brought  home  to  his  house  in  London  a  wife  from  Forest 
"  Hill,  lying  between  Halton  and  Oxford,  named  Mary,  the 
"  daughter  of  Mr.  Powell  of  that  place,  gent." *  The  prob- 
ability, therefore,  is  that  Milton  knew  very  little  about 
his  wife  before  he  married  her,  and  that  the  step  was 
hastily  taken.  He  was  in  his  thirty-fifth  year ;  the  bride's 
age  was  seventeen  years  and  four  or  five  months :  in  other 
words,  the  bridegroom  was  just  twice  as  old  as  the  bride. 
We  have  no  portrait  of  her,  nor  any  account  of  her  appear- 
ance ;  but,  on  the  usual  rule  of  the  elective  affinities  of 
opposites,  Milton  being  fair,  we  will  vote  her  to  have  been 
dark-haired.3 

When  Milton  returned,  with  his  girl-wife,  to  his  house  in 
Aldersgate  Street,  they  did  not  come  alone.     "  Some  few  of 

i  See  ««#,  p.  408.  only  one  for  the  year  1642,— the  nor- 

*  Wood'*  Fasti,  I.  482.  BOM  in  this  lost  being  William  Willing 

*  There  w  no  record  of  the  marriage  and  Mary  Clarke,  and  the  entry  having 
of  Milton  and  Mary  Powell  in  the  Forest  been   partially   unutud   in   1643.      The 
Hill  Registers.    Indeed,  in  those  Re^ix-  likelihood  aeems  to  be  that  Milton's 
ten,  as  I  am  informed  l.y  tl  marriage  did  not  take  place  at  Forest 
the  Rev.  C.  F.  Wy.-itt.  thrrc  is  i..-  m.-.r-  Hill.     \V;,>  n  at  o\fonl  '    The  register 
rioge  entry  at  all  for  the  year  1643,  and  may  yet  turn  up. 


506  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

her  nearest  relations/'  says  Phillips,  "  accompanied  the  bride 
to  her  new  habitation."  Had  Mrs.  Powell  taken  the  oppor- 
tunity of  running  up  to  London  herself,  to  see  her  daughter 
settled  in  her  new  house ;  or  was  it  only  a  few  of  the  young 
Forest  Hill  people, — the  younger  sisters  and  bridesmaids  ? 
They  seem,  at  all  events,  to  have  pretty  well  filled  the  house, 
and  to  have  taught  Milton  what  it  was  to  be  a  married  man 
with  a  bouquet  of  young  sisters-in-law.  "  The  feasting,"  says 
Phillips,  "held  for  some  days  in  celebration  of  the  nuptials, 
and  for  entertainment  of  the  bride's  friends."  Some  days 
may  imply  a  week.  After  that,  according  to  Phillips,  "  they 
took  their  leave,  and,  returning  to  Forest  Hill,  left  their 
sister  behind."  And  so,  in  June  1643,  Milton's  married 
life  began,  and  the  two  were  left  together  to  find  how  they 
suited  each  other. 

Not  well,  it  seems  !  On  Milton's  part,  as  we  shall  see 
soon  enough,  there  was  a  dawning  perception,  after  the  first 
blindness  of  the  honeymoon,  that  his  young  wife  was  stupid  ; 
but,  on  her  part,  there  was  more.  There  was  fright,  there 
was  distaste,  there  was  a  sense  of  solitude.  To  the  poor 
young  thing  there  had  come  what  comes  not  unfrequently 
to  very  young  brides,  taken  suddenly  from  all  the  accustomed 
cheerfulness  of  a  numerous  and  hospitable  home,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  sole  society  of  a  comparative  stranger.  There 
had  come  a  terror  of  her  new  situation,  a  feeling  of  home- 
sickness, a  longing  to  be  back  with  Mamma.  From  the 
moment,  indeed,  of  the  departure  of  her  brothers  and  sisters 
back  to  Forest  Hill,  her  heart  had  gone  with  them.  Possibly 
Milton's  ways  were  not  so  considerate  as  they  ought  to  have 
been.  Aubrey's  account  of  the  matter  is  that  the  young  wife, 
having  been  "  brought  up  and  lived  where  there  was  a  great 
"  deal  of  company  and  merriment,  dancing,  &c.,  when  she 
"  came  to  live  with  her  husband,  found  it  very  solitary :  no 
"  company  came  to  her  ;  oftentimes  heard  his  nephews  beaten 
"  and  cry  "  :  so  that  the  life  "  was  irksome  to  her."  Aubrey 
was  not  always  accurate  in  his  gossip,  and  that  item  of  the 
nephews  being  beaten  and  crying  looks  very  like  the  kind  of 
item  his  own  fancy  would  invent.  Phillips,  at  all  events, 


May  1643.]          MILTON'S  MARRIAGE  :    MARY  POWELL. 


r.07 


who  was  one  of  the  nephews,  has  no  such  item  in  his  account. 
Substantially, however,  it  agrees  with  Aubrey's.  "  After  having 
been  used  to  a  great  house,  and  much  company  and  joviality," 
the  life  with  Milton  in  Aldersgate  Street  was  too  "  philoso- 
phical "  for  her :  i.e.  Milton  had  relapsed  into  his  books, 
.studies  and  contemplations,  and  the  teaching  of  his  nephews, 
and  the  poor  girl  was  left  too  much  to  her  own  thoughts  and 
the  one  delight  of  correspondence  with  home.  The  conse- 
quence soon  showed  itself.  "  By  that  time  she  had  for  a 
•'  month  or  thereabout  led  a  philosophical  life,"  says  Phillips, 
"  her  friends,  possibly  incited  by  her  own  desire,  made  earnest 
"  suit,  by  letter,  to  have  her  company  the  remaining  part  of 
"  the  summer."  Milton  may  have  been  surprised  at  the 
request,  and  was  doubtless  chagrined.  To  go  back  to  her 
father's  house  immediately  after  the  honeymoon !  What 
would  people  think  ?  With  whatever  grace,  however,  he  did 
give  his  consent;  and  some  time  in  July  1643,  if  Phillips's 
date  is  correct,  the  young  wife  went  back  on  a  visit  to  Forest 
HilL  The  distinct  understanding  was  that  she  should  return 
at  Michaelmas  (Sept.  29)  or  thereabouts.1 

Phillips  informs  us  that  it  was  precisely  at  the  time  of  this 
absence  of  Milton's  wife  on  a  visit  to  her  relatives  that 
Milton's  father  came  from  Reading  to  reside  with  him.  Nay, 
it  was  at  the  same  time,  according  to  the  same  authority  (and 
there  could  not  be  a  better  for  the  fact),  that  there  first  came 
to  reside  with  Milton  a  few  pupils  in  addition  to  his  two 
nephews.  They  were  not  pupils  advertised  for  in  the  ordinary 
way,  Phillips  carefully  explains,  but  the  sons  of  intimate 


1  The  account*  of  Milton's  marriage 
l,v  W.,.,.l  (arm  KsQjand  T.. land  (1698), 
being  baaed  on  Aubrey 'sand  Phillips's, 
contain  nothing  really  additional  ;  >>ui 
they  may  be  quoted  here.  "  She,  who 
*  waa  very  young,  and  had  been  bred 
'  up  in  a  family  of  plenty  and  freedom, 
not  well  pleased  with  her  hiw- 


retired  manner  of  life,  did 
'  shortly  after  leave  him."  So  writes 
Wood  briefly  ;  while  Toland  expatiates 
i  little  thus:  "Whether  it  was  that 
4  this  young  woman,  accustomed  to  a 
4  large  ami  jovial  family,  could  not  live 
4  in  a  philosophical  retirement,  or  that 
4  she  was  not  {mrfuctly  satisfied  with 


4  the  person  of  her  husband,  or,  lastly, 
'  that,  because  her  relations  were  all 
4  addicted  to  the  royal  interest,  his  do- 
4  mocratic  principles  were  disagreeable 
4  to  her  humour  (nor  is  it  impossible 
4  that  the  father  rtpttltH  of  this 
4  match  upon  the  prospect  of  some 
4  success  on  the  King's  side,  who  then 

•  had  his  huad.|iiartoni  at  Oxford),  or 
4  whatever  were  the  reason,  'tin  certain 

•  that,  after  ho  had  enjoyed  her  com - 
1  pany  at  London  about  a  month,  she 
4  was  invited  by  her  friends  to  spend 
4  the  rest  of  the  summer  in  the  country ; 
4  to  which  he  consented  on  condition 
4  of  her  return  by  Michaelmas." 


508  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

friends,  received  by  way  of  favour.  It  may  have  been  an 
excuse  for  the  absence  of  the  wife  that  she  had  but  gone  out 
of  the  way  till  arrangements  were  made  in  the  house  for 
these  newcomers.  At  all  events,  in  her  absence,  the  house 
was  sufficiently  busy.  "  The  studies,"  says  Phillips,  "  went 
"  on  with  so  much  the  more  vigour  as  there  were  more  hands 
"  and  heads  employed ;  the  old  gentleman  living  wholly 
"  retired  to  his  rest  and  devotion,  without  the  least  trouble 
"  imaginable."  With  which  picture  of  the  house  in  Alders- 
gate  Street  in  or  about  July  1643,  let  us  leave  Milton  in 
it  for  the  present,  waiting  for  the  return  of  his  wife  at 
Michaelmas. 


CHAPTER   III. 

MEETING    OF   THE   WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY. 

ABOUT  the  time  when  Milton's  wife  left  him  on  a  visit  to 
her  friends,  London  was  astir  with  a  new  event  of  great 
consequence  in  the  course  of  the  national  revolution.  This 
was  the  meeting  of  the  famous  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY. 

The  necessity  of  an  ecclesiastical  Synod  or  Convocation, 
to  co-operate  with  the  Parliament,  had  been  long  felt.  Among 
the  articles  of  the  Grand  Remonstrance  of  Dec.  1641  had 
been  one  desiring  a  convention  of  "  a  General  Synod  of  the 
most  grave,  pious,  learned,  and  judicious  divines  of  this 
island,  assisted  by  some  from  foreign  parts,"  to  consider  of 
all  things  relating  to  the  Church  and  report  thereon  to 
Parliament.1  It  is  clear,  from  the  wording  of  this  article, 
that  it  was  contemplated  that  the  Synod  should  contain 
representatives  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland. 
Indeed,  by  that  time,  the  establishment  of  a  uniformity  of 
Doctrine,  Discipline,  and  Worship  between  the  Churches  of 
England  and  Scotland  was  the  fixed  idea  of  those  who 
chiefly  desired  a  Synod.  There  had  been,  as  we  know, 
express  communications  on  the  subject  between  the  leading 
English  Puritan  ministers  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Scottish  Kirk  ; 
and  it  may  be  remembered  how  strongly  Henderson  had  taken 
the  matter  to  heart,  and  how,  in  connexion  with  it,  he  had 
made  a  "  notable  motion  "  in  the  Scottish  General  Assembly 
of  Aug.  1641  (see  antl,  p.  290).  Might  it  not  be  well,  he 
had  then  urged,  that  the  Scottish  Church  should  employ 
it -.-It'  in  "drawing  up  a  Confession  of  Faith,  a  Catechism,  a 

Directory  for  all  the  parts  of  the  public  worship,  and  a 

>  See  a*tf,  p.  327. 


510  LIFE   OF   MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

"  Platform  of  Government,  wherein  possibly  England  and  we 
"  might  agree  "  ?  Henderson's  notion  was  that,  if  such  an 
authoritative  exposition  of  the  whole  theory  and  practice 
of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  could  be  drawn  up  for  the  study  of 
the  English,  and  especially  if  care  were  taken  in  it  not  to  be 
ultra- Scottish  in  mere  minutiae,  the  effect  would  be  to  facili- 
tate the  religious  union  of  the  two  nations.  The  Scottish 
Assembly,  at  any  rate,  had  warmly  entertained  the  notion, 
and  had  deputed  the  difficult  and  delicate  work  to  Henderson 
himself.  Henderson,  however,  as  we  had  subsequently  to 
report  (ante,  p.  41 9),  had,  on  more  mature  thoughts,  abandoned 
the  project.  He  had  done  so  for  reasons  creditable  to  his 
considerateness  and  good  sense.  It  had  occurred  to  him  that 
the  English  might  like  to  think  out  the  details  of  their 
Church-Reformation  for  themselves,  that  it  might  do  more 
harm  than  good  to  thrust  an  elaborated  Scottish  system 
upon  them  as  a  perfection  already  consummate,  and  that 
it  might  even  be  becoming  in  the  Scots  to  hold  themselves 
prepared,  in  the  interests  of  the  conformity  they  desired,  to 
gravitate  towards  what  might  be  the  English  conclusions 
on  non-essential  points.  At  all  events,  he  had  come  to  see 
that  the  work  was  too  great  for  the  responsibility  of  any  one 
man.  Possibly,  too,  he  knew  by  that  time  (April  1642) 
that  a  general  synod  of  English  divines  would  very  soon 
be  called. 

Actually,  in  April  1642,  just  when  Henderson  gave  up  the 
business  as  too  great  for  one  man's  strength,  the  English 
House  of  Commons  were  making  arrangements  for  a  Synod 
of  Divines.  On  the  19th  of  that  month,  it  was  ordered  by 
the  House,  in  pursuance  of  previous  resolutions  on  the  subject, 
"  that  the  names  of  such  divines  as  shall  be  thought  fit  to 
be  consulted  with  concerning  the  matter  of  the  Church  be 
brought  in  to-morrow  morning,"  the  understood  rule  being 
that  the  knights  and  burgesses  of  each  English  county  should 
name  to  the  House  two  divines,  and  those  of  each  Welsh 
county  one  divine,  for  approval.  Accordingly,  on  the  20th, 
the  names  were  given  in ;  on  that  day,  the  divines  proposed 
for  nine  of  the  English  counties  were  approved  of  in  pairs ; 


July  1643.]      MEETING  OP  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  511 

and  on  following  days  the  rest  of  the  English  counties 
( London  and  the  two  Universities  coming  in  for  separate 
representation)  were  gone  over,  pretty  much  in  their  alpha- 
betical order,  the  Welsh  counties  and  the  Channel  Islands 
coming  last,  till,  on  April  25,  the  tale  of  the  divines  "  thought 
fit  to  be  consulted  with"  was  complete.  It  included  102 
divines,  generally  from  the  counties  for  which  they  were 
severally  named  ;  but  by  no  means  always  so,  for  in  not  a  few 
cases  the  knights  and  burgesses  of  distant  counties  nominated 
divines  living  in  London  or  near  it.  In  almost  all  cases  the 
divines  named  by  the  knights  and  burgesses  for  their  several 
counties  were  approved  of  by  the  House  unanimously  ;  but  a 
vote  was  taken  on  the  eligibility  of  one  of  the  divines  named 
for  Yorkshire,  and  he  was  carried  by  a  bare  majority  of  1 0  3 
to  99,  and,  exceptions  having  been  taken  on  the  25th  to  the 
two  appointed  for  Cumberland  on  the  20th,  their  appoint- 
ment was  cancelled  and  others  were  substituted.  On  the 
same  day  on  which  the  list  of  divines  was  completed,  a  com- 
mittee of  twenty-seven  members  of  the  House,  including 
Hampden,  Selden,  and  Lord  Falkland,  was  appointed  "  to 
"  consider  of  the  readiest  way  to  put  in  execution  the  resolu- 
"  tions  of  this  House  in  consulting  with  such  divines  as  they 
"  have  named."  The  result  was  that  on  the  9th  of  May  there 
was  brought  in  a  "  Bill  for  calling  an  Assembly  of  godly  and 
"  learned  Divines  to  be  consulted  with  by  the  Parliament  for 
"  the  settling  of  the  Government  and  Liturgy  of  the  Church, 
"  and  for  the  vindicating  and  clearing  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
"  ( 'hurch  of  England  from  false  aspersions  and  interpretations." 
<  )n  that  day  the  Bill  was  read  twice  in  the  Commons  and 
committed;  and  on  the  19th  it  was  read  a  third  time  and 
1.  The  Lords,  having  then  taken  the  Bill  into  con- 
sideration, proposed  (May  26,  16  42)  the  addition  of  fourteen 
divines  of  their  own  choice  to  those  named  by  the  Commons  ; 
and,  the  Commons  having  agreed  to  this  amendment,  the 
Hill  passed  both  Houses,  June  l,and  waited  only  the  Kin-  ^ 
assent.  It  was  intended  that  the  Assembly  should  meet  the 
next  month.1 

1  Commons  and  Lords  Journals  of  dates  mentioned. 


512  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

The  King  had  other  things  to  do  at  that  moment  than 
assent  to  a  Bill  for  an  Assembly  of  Divines.  He  was  at 
York,  gathering  his  forces  for  the  Civil  War ;  and  by  the 
time  when  it  was  expected  the  Assembly  should  have  been 
at  work  the  Civil  War  had  begun.  Nevertheless,  the  Parlia- 
ment persevered  in  their  design.  Twice  again,  while  the  war 
was  in  its  first  stage,  Bills  were  introduced  to  the  same  effect 
as  that  which  had  been  stopped.  Bill  the  Second  for  calling 
an  Assembly  of  Divines  was  in  October,  and  Bill  the  Third  in 
December,  1642.  In  these  Bills  the  two  Houses  kept  to  the 
116  Divines  agreed  upon  under  the  first  Bill,  with  (as  far  as 
I.  have  been  able  to  trace  the  matter  through  their  Journals) 
only  one  deletion,  two  substitutions,  and  three  proposed 
additions.1—  — Still,  by  the  stress  of  the  war,  the  Assembly 
was  postponed.  At  last,  hopeless  of  a  Bill  that  should  pass 
in  the  regular  way  by  the  King's  consent,  the  Houses 
resorted,  in  this  as  in  other  things,  to  their  peremptory  plan 
of  ORDINANCE  by  their  own  authority.  On  the  13th  of  May 
1643,  an  Ordinance  for  calling  an  Assembly  was  introduced 
in  the  Commons ;  which  Ordinance,  after  due  going  and 
coming  between  the  two  Houses,  came  to  maturity  June  12, 
when  it  was  entered  at  full  length  in  the  Lords  Journals. 
"  Whereas,  amongst  the  infinite  blessings  of  Almighty  God 
"  upon  this  nation," — so  runs  thepreamble  of  the  Ordinance, — 
"  none  is,  or  can  be,  more  dear  to  us  than  the  purity  of  our 
"  Religion  ;  and  forasmuch  as  many  things  yet  remain  in  the 
"  discipline,  liturgy,  and  government  of  the  Church  which 
"  necessarily  require  a  more  perfect  reformation  ;  and  whereas 
"  it  has  been  declared  and  resolved,  by  the  Lords  and  Com- 
"  mons  assembled  in  Parliament,  that  the  present  Church 
"  Government  by  Archbishops,  Bishops,  their  Chancellors, 
"  Commissaries,  Deans,  Deans  and  Chapters,  Archdeacons, 
"  and  other  ecclesiastical  officers  depending  on  the  hierarchy, 
"  is  evil,  and  justly  offensive  and  burdensome  to  the  kingdom, 
"  and  a  great  impediment  to  reformation  and  growth  of 
"  religion,  and  very  prejudicial  to  the  state  and  government 

1  Commons  and  Lords  Journals  at       1642-3  ;   especially  C.  J.   Oct.   15  and 
various  dates  from  Oct.  1642  to  Jan.        19,  1642,  and  Jan.  6,  1642-3. 


July  1613.  J    MEETING  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  513 

"  of  this  kingdom,  and  that  therefore  they  are  resolved  the 
"  same  shall  be  taken  away,  and  that  such  a  government 
"  shall  be  settled  in  the  Church  as  may  be  agreeable  to  God's 
"  Holy  Word,  and  most  apt  to  procure  and  preserve  the  peace 
"  of  the  Church  at  home,  and  nearer  agreement  with  the 
"  Church  of  Scotland,  and  other  reformed  Churches  abroad 
"  .  .  .  :  Be  it  therefore  ordained,  &c."    What  is  ordained  is 
that  149  persons,  enumerated  by  name  in  the  Ordinance 
(10  of  them  being  members  of  the  Lords  House,  20  members 
of  the  Commons  House,  and   the  other  119   mainly   the 
divines  that  had  already  been  fixed  upon,  most  of  them  a 
year  before),1  shall  meet  on  the   1st  of  July  next  in  King 
Henry  the  Seventh's  Chapel  at  Westminster,  and  that  these 
persons,  and  such  others  as  shall  be  added  to  them  by  Parlia- 
ment from  time  to  time,  shall  have  power  to  continue  their 
sittings  as  long  as  Parliament  may  see  fit,  and  "  to  confer  and 
"  treat  among  themselves  of  such  matters  and  things,  con- 
"  cerning  the  liturgy,  discipline,  and    government    of   the 
"  Church  of  England,  or  the  vindicating  and  clearing  of  the 
"  doctrine  of  the  same  from  all  false  aspersions  and  miscon- 
"  structions,  as  shall  be  proposed  by  either  or  both  Houses  of 
"  Parliament^  and  no  other"     The  words  in  italics  are  im- 
portant.      The  Assembly  was  not   to  be  an   independent 
National  Council  ranging  at  its  will  and  settling  things  by  its 
own  authority.     It  was  to  be  a  body  advising  Parliament  on 
matters  referred  to  it  and  on  these  alone,  and  its  conclusions 
were  to  have  no  validity  until  they  should  be  reported  to 
Parliament  and  confirmed  there.      Forty  members  of  the 
Assembly  were  to  constitute  a  quorum,  and  the  proceedings 
were  not  to  be  divulged  without  consent  of  Parliament.     Four 
shillings  a  day  were  to  be  allowed  to  each  clerical  member 

1  The   following  divines,    who    hod  son,  of  Durham  ;  Dr.  Richard  Lloyd 

been  among  the  102  originally  thought  [Denbigh) ;  Dr.  Soames,  of  Staines ;  Dr. 

fit  by  the  Commons  in  April  1642,  or  Marsh,    of   St.    Dunstan's-in-tho-East, 

among  the  14  added  to  that  list  \<\  the  London  ;  and  Dr.  John  Earle,  of  Hi-hop- 

Lords  in  May  1642,  wore  not  among  the  Htonu,  Wilts  (author  of  the  J//crucomo> 
119  named  in  tho  Ordinance  of  .!  /./,//,  and  afterwards  Bishop).     It  i» 

1643 :— Dr.  Pridcaux,  Bishop  of  Wor-  the  more  necessary  to  note  this  because 

coster ;  Thomas  Dillingham,  of  Dean,  some  of  these  persons  figure  in  li-t-  »f 

B.D.  ;  Mr.  Levett,  oflttpoa  ;  Samuel  the  actual  Assembly  of  Divines. 
Crook,  of  Wranton,  B.D.  ;  Dr.  Jonni- 

VOL.   II  2  L 


514  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

for  his  expenses,  with  immunity  for  non-residence  in  his 
parish  or  any  neglect  of  his  ordinary  duties  that  might  be 
entailed  by  his  presence  at  Westminster.  William  Twisse, 
D.D.,  of  Newbury,  was  to  be  Prolocutor,  or  Chairman,  of  the 
Assembly ;  and  he  was  to  have  two  "  Assessors,"  to  supply 
his  place  in  case  of  necessary  absence.  There  were  to  be  two 
"  Scribes,"  who  should  be  divines,  but  not  members  of  the 
Assembly,  to  take  minutes  of  the  proceedings.  Every  mem- 
ber of  the  Assembly,  on  his  first  entrance,  was  to  make 
solemn  protestation  that  he  would  not  maintain  anything 
but  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth ;  no  resolution  on  any 
question  was  to  be  come  to  on  the  same  day  on  which  it  was 
first  propounded ;  whatever  any  speaker  maintained  to  be 
necessary  he  was  to  prove  out  of  the  Scriptures  ;  all  decisions 
of  the  major  part  of  the  Assembly  were  to  be  reported  to 
Parliament  as  the  decisions  of  the  Assembly ;  but  the  dissents 
of  individual  members  were  to  be  duly  registered,  if  they 
required  it,  and  also  reported  to  Parliament.  The  Lords 
wanted  to  regulate  also  that  no  long  speeches  should  be  per- 
mitted in  the  Assembly,  so  that  matters  might  not  be  carried 
by  "  impertinent  flourishes  "  ;  but  the  Commons,  for  reasons 
that  are  not  far  to  seek,  did  not  agree  to  this  regulation.1 

Notwithstanding  a  Eoyal  Proclamation  from  Oxford,  dated 
June  22,  forbidding  the  Assembly  and  threatening  conse- 
quences, the  first  meeting  duly  took  place  on  the  day 
appointed, — Saturday,  July  1, 1643  ;  and  from  that  date  till 
the  22nd  of  February  1 648-9,  or  for  more  than  five  years  and 
a  half,  the  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  as 
a  power  or  institution  in  the  English  realm,  existing  side  by 
side  with  the  Long  Parliament,  and  in  constant  conference 
and  co-operation  with  it.  The  number  of  its  sittings  during 
those  five  years  and  a  half  was  1,163  in  all ;  which  is  at  the 
rate  of  about  four  sittings  every  week  for  the  whole  time. 
The  earliest  years  of  the  Assembly  were  the  most  important. 
All  in  all,  it  was  an  Assembly  which  left  remarkable  and 

1  Ordinance  itself  at  large  in  Lords  Also  subsequent  Regulations  for  As- 
Journals,  June  12,  1643  :  abridged  by  sembly  in  Lords  Journals,  June  29 : 
Neal,  Hist,  of  Puritans,  III.  48—50.  modified  July  6. 


July  1643.]        LIST  OF  THK  WKsTMINSTEK  ASSEMBLY.  515 

permanent  effects  in  the  British  Islands,  and  the  history  of 
which  ought  to  be  more  interesting  to  Britons  now,  in  some 
homely  respects,  than  the  history  of  the  Council  of  Basel,  the 
Council  of  Trent,  or  any  other  of  the  great  ecclesiastical 
Councils,  more  ancient  and  oecumenical,  about  which  we 
hear  so  much. 

The  following  is  the  most  complete  and  accurate  list  of 
the  Members  of  the  Assembly  I  have  been  able  to  draw  up, 
reserving  only  some  Scotsmen  who  are  to  be  added,  in  a 
group  by  themselves,  afterwards  : — 

I. OFFICIALS    OF   THE    ASSEMBLY. 

WILLIAM  TWISSB,  D.D.  (OxonA  Rector  of  Newbury,  Berk*,  was  the  Prolocutor  or 
SncaJctr,  appointed  by  Parliament.  He  was  of  German  descent ;  a  tut.  about 
69  ;  and  was  of  note  as  a  polemical  theologian,  especially  against  Arminianism. 

the  Prolocutorship  by  Mr.  Horlo 


He  died  July  1646,  and  was  succeeded  in 

(whose  name  see  below). — When  the  Prolocutor  was  unablo  to  take  the 
chair  it  was  taken  by  either  Dr.  BUHGKS  or  Mr.  WHITE  (see  these  names 
below) ;  which  two  members  were  known  accordingly  as  "Assessors"  to  the 
Prolocutor.  They  were  appointed  by  the  Assembly  itself ;  but  Parliament 
had  already  nominated  tne  two  "Scribes,"  or  Clerks  of  the  Assembly — 
viz.  Mr.  HENRY  ROBOROUGH  (afterwards  minister  of  St.  Leonard's,  East- 
cheap),  and  Mr.  ADOXIRAM  BYKIELD,  M.A.  (Cantab.).  The  Scribes  were 
not  properly  members  of  Assembly,  and  did  not  vote.  After  a  little  while 
(i.e.  Dec.  18,  1643),  a  Mr.  JOHN  WALLIS  was  appointed  as  their  "aman- 
uonsis,"  or  assistant.  He  was  a  young  man  in  holy  orders,  fresh  from 
Cambridge  and  not  much  known  ;  Hit  he  lived  to  bo  famous  as  Dr.  John 
Wallis.  the  Divine,  Decipherer,  and  Mathematician,  Professor  of  Geometry  at 
Oxford,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  was  probably 
the  last  survivor  of  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the  Westminster  Assembly  ; 
for  ho  died  in  1703,  letat.  88. 

1I.-D1  VINES  NOMINALLY  MEMBERS  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY  AT  ONE 
TIME  OR  ANOTHER. 

In  the  following  list  the  names  of  the  divines  originally  ap- 
pointed by  Parliament  to  constitute  the  clerical  portion  of  the 
Assembly  are  arranged  alphabetically,  without  typographical  dis- 
tinction of  those  who  actually  served  and  were  the  real  constituting 
body  from  those  who  never  appeared  in  the  Assembly,  or  withdrew 
from  it  soon,  and  so  cannot  be  accounted  real  members.  These  may 
have  been  about  twenty  in  all,  and  the  most  important  of  them  are 
noted  as  their  names  occur. —  There  were,  however,  some  nineteen 
divin.->  .t.l.iol  l.y  Parliament  at  various  times  after  the  Assembly 
had  Ix-iruii  it*  work.  Tin-  names  of  .siu-h  of  these  as  came  in  the 
places  ot  original  members  uh<>  had  died  or  withdrawn  tln-m 
are  given,  not  alphabetically,  but  in  the  same  paragraphs  with  the 
names  of  the  original  DMmben  whom  they  respectively  succeeded. 
In  cases,  however,  where  a  new  member  was  not  thus  merely  sul>- 
I  for  an  original  member,  but  was,  or  appears  to  have  been, 
gupcraddcd  on  his  own  account,  the  name  is  printed  in  its  alpha- 


5~16  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

betical  order,  but  a  little  inwards  in  the  page.1  The  dates  of  the 
substitutions  or  superadditions,  so  far  as  they  can  be  gathered*  from 
the  Lords  and  Commons  Journals,  are  duly  inserted  : — 

ARROWSMITH,  JOHN,  M.A.  (Cantab.) :  Vicar  of  Lynn,  Norfolk,  cetat.  41.  He  had 
been  a  Fellow  of  Catherine  Hall  when  Milton  was  at  Cambridge.  He  was 
"a  man  with  a  glass  eye,"  having  lost  one  of  his  eyes  by  an  arrow-shot. 

ASHE,  SIMEON  (Cantab.) :  minister  of  St.  Bride's,  London.  He  was  appointed  to 
the  Assembly,  June  14,  1643,  instead  of  Josias  Shute,  B.D.,  named  in  the 
Ordinance,  but  dead.  He  had  had  a  living  in  Staffordshire,  but  had  been 
dispossessed  for  Puritanism,  and  had  resumed  duty  as  a  military  chaplain  in 
attendance  on  the  Earl  of  Manchester. 

BATHURST,  THOMAS  (or  THEOPHILUS)  :  Vicar  of  Overton  with  Fyfield,  Wilts. 

BAYLY,  THOMAS,  B.D.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Manningford  Bruce,  Co.  Wilts,  cetat.  circ, 
58 ;  ob.  1663. 

BOWLES,  OLIVER,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Sutton,  Bedfordshire;  ob.  1644.— In 
his  place  there  was  appointed  to  the  Assembly  (March  19,  1644-5)  THOMAS 
FORD,  M.A.  (Oxon.),  preacher  at  Exeter,  atat.  40.  He  had  been  tutor  in 
Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford,  but  had  lost  his  tutorship  and  all  chance  of  pre- 
ferment in  the  Church  in  consequence  of  a  Puritanical  sermon  preached 
in  1631. 

BRIDGE,  WILLIAM,  M.A.  (Cantab.) :  minister  at  Yarmouth,  Norfolk  ;  cetat.  43.  He 
had  been  a  Fellow  of  Emanuel  College,  and  a  preacher  in  Norwich  ;  but, 
having  been  silenced  for  nonconformity  by  Bishop  Wren,  had  gone  to 
Holland  (1637),  and  become  pastor  to  an  English  congregation  in  Rotterdam. 
He  had  returned  in  1641. 

BROWNRIGGE,  RALPH,  D.D.,  Bisliop  of  Exeter  (Cantab.).  Appointed  originally 
as  one  of  the  representatives  of  Cambridge  University  in  the  Assembly,  but 
never  took  his  place. 

BULKELEY  (or  BUCKLEY),  RICHARD,  B.D.     He  represented  Anglesey.  * 

BURGESS,  ANTHONY,  M.A.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Sutton-Coidfield,  Warwickshire, 
and  Lecturer  at  Lawrence  Jewry  in  London.  He  had  been  a  Fellow  of  Emanuel 
College,  Cambridge. 

BURGES,  CORNELIUS,  D.D.  (Oxon.) :  Vicar  of  Watford,  Herts  ;  cetat.  circ.  50.  He 
had  been  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  Charles  I.  ;  but  for  some  years  had  been 
one  of  the  loudest  of  the  Puritan  ministers.  He  had  argued  the  question  of 
cathedral  establishments,  on  the  Puritan  side,  against  Hacket  on  the  other, 
before  the  House  of  Commons  (see  ante,  p.  228).  He  was  one  of  the  Asses- 
sors to  Prolocutor  Twisse,  and  was  a  man  of  consequence  in  the  Assembly, 
and,  indeed,  till  the  Restoration ;  after  which  he  lost  his  considerable 
wealth  and  fell  into  extreme  distress.  He  died  July  1665,  and  was  buried 
in  Watford  Church. 

BURROUGHS,  JEREMIAH,  M.A.  (Cantab.):  cetat.  circ.  43.  His  nonconforming 
opinions  had  driven  him  abroad,  and  he  had  been  minister  (along  with  Bridge 
to  an  English  congregation  at  Rotterdam.  Returning  in  1641,  he  had 
accepted  no  parochial  charge,  but  had  been  occupying  himself  as  a  preacher 
in  London, — more  particularly  at  Stepney  on  Sunday  mornings  ;  where  he 
drew  such  large  audiences  and  was  so  popular  that  Hugh  Peters  had  named 
him  "the  Morning  Star  of  Stepney."  He  died  Nov.  1646. — To  supply  his 
place  in  the  Assembly  there  was  appointed  (March  13,  1646-7)  SAMUEL 
BOULTON  (Cantab.),  minister  of  St.  Martin's,  Ludgate.  He  was  appointed, 
about  the  same  time,  to  the  Mastership  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Dr.  Bainbrigge  ;  and  he  lived  till  1654.  This  Boulton  must 
have  been  well  known  to  Milton,  as  they  had  been  at  Christ's  College  together, 
and  had  taken  their  degrees  of  B.A.  and  M.A.  at  the  same  time  (see  Vol.  I. 
pp.  218  and  258). 

1  I  suspect,  however,  that  even  the  for  what  divines  they  were  respectively 

few  divines  I  have  had  thus  to  distin-  substituted  that  I  have  to  print  their 

guish  as  superadded  were  also  substi-  names  apart  and   imvards,  instead  of 

tutes  for  original  members Awho_  had  ranging  them  in  the  same  paragraphs 

died  or  withdrawn,  and  that  it  is'only  with  those  whose  places  they  took, 
because  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out 


July  1643.]        LIST  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  517 

CALAMY,  EDMUND,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  minister  of  Aldormanbury,  London  :  >n,,t.  \\\. 
He  was  first  designated  for  the  Assembly  as  one  of  the  four  representatives 
«>f  the  London  clergy.  He  had  been  a  parish-minister  in  Suffolk  many  years 
before,  but  had  been  ejected  for  nonconformity  by  Bishop  Wren.  Since  his 
appointment  to  Aldermanbury  in  1639  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  popular 
preachers  in  London,  and  an  eminent  leader  of  the  Presbyterian  party.  He 
was  one  of  the  "  Smectymnuans."  He  lived  till  after  the  Restoration,  and  died 
in  Oct.  1666,  after  having  surveyed,  with  grief,  the  ruins  of  the  Great  Fire  of 
London. 

CAPBL,  RICHARD,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  a  tat.  57.  He  had  been  a  parish-minister  in 
Gloucestershire,  but  had  resigned  the  charge  in  1633  on  account  of  his  Puritan- 
ism, and  had  since  then  been  practising  physic  at  Pitchcombe  in  the  same 
county.  He  died  1656. 

CARYL,  JOSEPH,  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn  ;  <n<it.  41.  First  chosen 
for  the  Assembly  as  one  or  the  four  representatives  of  the  London  clergy. 
He  was  afterwards  minister  of  St.  Magnus,  London  Bridge  ;  was  distinguished 
as  a  Puritan  preacher  and  author ;  wrote  a  vast  commentary  on  the  Book 
of  Job  ;  and  died  Feb.  1672-3. 

CASK,  THOMAS,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  minister  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  Milk  Street, 
London  ;  octal.  45 :  ob.  1682,  cetat.  84. 

CARTER,  JOHN,  of  York. 

CARTER,  WILLIAM  (Cantab.) :  preacher  in  London  ;  <ttat.  36.     He  died  1658. 

CARTER,  WILLIAM  :  Vicar  of  Dinton.  Bucks.— Either  he  or  John  Carter  was 
succeeded  in  the  Assembly  by  a  Mr.  JOHNSTON  (March  2,  1645-6). 

CHAMBERS,  HUMPHREY,  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Claverton,  Somersetshire  ;  a>tat. 
44;  had  been  silenced  and  imprisoned  for  Puritanism.  He  became  D.D., 
and  died  1662. 

CHBYNEL,  FRANCIS,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Rector  of  Petworth,  Sussex;  tetat.  35:  was 
afterwards  D.D.,  President  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  and  Margaret 
Professor  of  Divinity  :  ol>.  1665. 

CLARKE,  PETER  (Cantab.) :  Vicar  of  Carnaby,  Yorkshire. 

CLAYTON,  RICHARD:  Rector  of  Shawell,  Leicestershire.  Was  he  the  Richard 
Clayton  (Cantab.),  who  was  Master  of  University  College.  Oxford,  and  D.D. 
(Oxon.),  after  the  Restoration,  and  who  died  1670 f 

COKE,  FRANCIS  :  of  Yoxall,  Staffordshire. 

COLEMAN,  THOMAS,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Vicar  of  Blyton,  in  Lincolnshire,  and  then 
Rector  of  St.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  London  :  <>i,,t.  45  ;  a  great  Hebraist,  so  that 
he  was  called  "  Rabbi  Coleman  " :  ob.  March  1646-7. 

CONANT,  JOHN,  B.D. :  Rector  of  Limington  in  Somersetshire  (not  Lymington  in 
Hants).  He  is  to  be  distinguished  from  his  nephew,  of  the  same  name, 
afterwards  Archdeacon  of  Norwich,  &c. 

CORBET,  EDWARD,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  minister  of  Chatham,  Kent:  <J>.  1667* 

CBOSBB,  ROBERT,  B.D.,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford;  */«/.  38:  afterwards 
Vicar  of  Chew,  Somersetshire,  and  died  1683. 

I)E  LA  MARCHE.   M.  JEAN,    \  ministers  of  the  French  Protestant  Church  in 

DB  LA  PLACE,  M.  SAMUEL,  /  London  :  they  were  designated  for  the  Assembly 
to  represent  Jersey  and  Guernsey. 

DOWNING,  CAIJBUTB,  D.D.  (Oxon.):  Vicar  of  Hackney,  Middlesex;  a-fat.  37. 
He  died  very  soon  after  the  Assembly  had  begun  its  sittings.— His  .successor 
as  member  of  the  Assembly  (appointed  Nov.  2,  1643)  was  the  celebrated 
JOHN  DURIE,  of  whom  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  give  some  account 
'-,  pp.  367-8).  Since  1641,  when  we  last  saw  him,  he  had  been  residing 
chiefly  at  the  Hague,  but  probably  with  excursions  hither  and  thither  on 
the  Continent,  and  certainly  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  England,  where  the 
ecclesiastical  confusion  that  was  raging  seemed  to  offer  new  chances  for  what 
he  called  hi-  ••  n.-j-otiation."  The  union  of  the  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  of 
KurojH)  wan  ntill  Dune's  one  idea  or  passion,  by  which  he  measured  every- 
thing, and  in  the  interests  of  which  ho  would  go  anywhere  and  put  him-rlf 
in  the  midst  of  any  turmoil ;  and,  just  as  formerly  he  had  been  in  (••>mmuni- 
cation  on  the  subject  with  Lunl,  Hall,  and  other  English  prelates,  HO  m.-n- 
recently  he  had  been  corresponding  with  the  chiefs  of  the  mflfatnl  v  » 
of  the  ascendant  Puritanism.  His  a|>|x>intmont  to  the  Westminster  Assembly 
by  the  Kn-li-h  Parliament  was  rather,  I  should  suppose,  in  recognition  of 
his  jxK-nliur  European  notoriety,  acquired  by  the  incessant  prosecution  of 
his  own  idea  for  nearly  fifteen  years,  than  in  expectation  of  much  direct  practi- 
cal counsel  from  him  in  the  Immediate  problems  of  the  English  Church.  Ho 


518  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

did,  nevertheless,  appear  in  the  Assembly  and  take  some  considerable  part 
in  the  proceedings.     As  I  find  it  distinctly  on  record,  however,  that  he  was 
minister  of  the  English  Merchants'  Kirk  in  Rotterdam  in  1645,  it  seems 
necessary  to  imagine  that,  after  he  had  taken  his  place  in  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  he  went  and  came  between  England  and  the  Continent  as  suited  him, 
though  more  and  more  tending  to  residence  in  England.     One  hears  of  him,  at 
all  events,  as  in  England,  off  and  on,  till  about  the  time  of  the  Restoration. 
DUNNING,  WILLIAM  :  Rector  of  Goodalston,  Notts. 
ELLIS,  EDWARD,  B.D.  :  of  Guilsfield,  Montgomeryshire. 

FEATLEY,  DANIEL,  D.D.  (Oxon.):  Provost  of  Chelsea  College,  and  Rector  of 
Lambeth,  and  of  Acton,  Middlesex,  but  residing  in  Lambeth  ;  cetat.  61.  His 
family  name  was  "  Fairclough  "  ;  but  this  had  been  corrupted  into  "  Featley  " 
— which  spelling  he  had  adopted.  He  had  been  known  in  the  Church,  as  a 
writer  and  otherwise,  for  more  than  thirty  years.  In  1626  he  had  been 
appointed  by  Archbishop  Abbot  to  the  Rectory  of  Allhallows  in  Bread  Street, 
Milton's  native  parish,  in  succession  to  Stock.  He  had  held  this  living  for 
only  a  little  time,  removing  from  it  to  Acton.  He  was  a  veteran  Calvinist, 
and  had  been  popular  on  that  account ;  but,  as  he  adhered  to  Episcopacy, 
and  yet  persisted  in  attending  the  Assembly,  they  suspected  his  motives,  and 
found  an  opportunity  to  eject  him,  Sept.  1643.  He  died  1645. — His  suc- 
cessor in  the  Assembly  (appointed  May  7,  1645)  was  RICHARD  BYFIELD,  M.A. 
(Oxon. ),  Rector  of  Long  Ditton,  Surrey,  and  brother  of  Adoniram  Byfield,  one 
of  the  Scribes  of  the  Assembly.  He  died  Dec.  1664. 

FOXCROFT,  JOHN  (B.A.  Cantab.,  M.A.  Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Gotham,  in  Notts. 
GAMMON,  HANNIBAL,  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  St.  Mawgan  in  Cornwall ;  cetat.  61. 
He  seems  not  to  have  served,  probably  on  account  of  his  distance  from 
London,  and  so  not  to  have  inflicted  on  the  Assembly  the  ludicrousness  of 
his  name. 

GATAKER,  THOMAS,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Rotherhithe  ;  cetat.  69.    This  veteran 
Puritan,  known  to  us  since  Milton's  childhood  (Vol.  I.  p.  54  and  p.  71),  was 
one  of  the  most  respected  and  influential  of  the  members  of  the  Assembly, — 
his   reputation   for   learning  being  hardly  less   than   for   piety  and   sound 
doctrine.     He  refused  various  offers  of  preferment,  and  remained  pastor  of 
Rotherhithe  till  his  death  in  1654,  cetat.  80.     His  writings  are  numerous. 
GIBBON,  JOHN  (Cantab.) :  of  Waltham. 
GIBSON,  SAMUEL  :  of  Burleigh,  Rutlandshire. 
GIPPES,  GEORGE  :  Rector  of  Aylestone,  Leicestershire. 

GOAD  (or  GOOD),  WILLIAM,  B.D.  :  Rector  of  Denton,  Norfolk  (superadded 

by  Lords,  the  Commons  agreeing,  Feb.  1,  1643-4). 

GOODWIN,  THOMAS,  D.D.  (Cantab.):  minister  to  a  congregation  in  St.  Dunstan's- 
in-the-East,  Thames  Street,  London  ;  cetat.  43.  He  had  been  of  note  among 
the  English  Puritans  since  his  Cambridge  days  ;  had  left  the  University  on 
grounds  of  conscience  in  1634  ;  had  gone  to  Holland  in  1639  and  become 
minister  of  an  English  congregation  at  Arnheim  ;  and  had  but  recently 
returned.  He  afterwards  became  President  of  Magdalen,  Cambridge  ;  but 
resigned  at  the  Restoration  and  resumed  preaching.  He  died  Feb.  1679- 
80,  cetat.  80,  and  is  still  remembered  as  one  of  the  Fathers  of  English 
Independency. 

GOUGE,  WILLIAM,  D.D.  (Cantab.) :  cetat.  68  ;  minister  of  Blackfriars,  London,  since 
1608.  He  had  long  been  highly  venerated  among  the  Puritans,  there  being 
' '  scarce  a  lord  or  lady  or  citizen  of  quality  in  or  about  the  city  that  were 
piously  inclined  but  they  sought  his  acquaintance."  He  died  Dec.  12,  1653  ; 
cetat.  79.  See  a  memoir  of  him,  with  portrait,  appended  to  Clarke's  General 
Martyrologie  (1677). 

GOWER,  STANLEY  :  Rector  of  Brampton-Bryan,  Herefordshire. 
GREENE,  JOHN  :  Rector  of  Pencombe,  Herefordshire. 

GREENHILL,  WILLIAM,  M.A.  (Cantab.):  cetat.  52;  evening-lecturer  at  Stepney, 
where  Jeremiah  Burroughs  was  morning-lecturer ;  and  hence  called  by 
Hugh  Peters  "  the  Evening  Star  of  Stepney,"  Burroughs  being  the  "  Morning 
Star."  He  died  in  or  about  1677. 

HACKET,  JOHN,  D.D.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  Chaplain  to 
the  King,  &c.  ;  cetat.  52.  He  had  defended  cathedral  establishments  before 
the  Parliament  (see  ante,  p.  228),  and  was  altogether  on  the  anti-Parliament- 
arian side.  Consequently  he  never  sat  in  the  Assembly,  and  was  under  a 
cloud  during  the  Commonwealth  ;  but,  after  the  Restoration,  he  became 
Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry.  He  died  Oct.  1670. 


July  1643.]         LIST  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  519 

HALL,  HENRY.  RD.  (Cantab.):  minister  at  Norwich. 

HAMMOND,  HENRY,  D.D.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Penshurst,  Kent ;  a-tat.  38.    Ho  never 

in  the  Assembly  ;  was  a  decided  Royalist  through  the  Civil  War,  and, 

going  to  Oxford,  became  Chaplain  to  the  King,  and  University  Orator.     He 

was  in  great  esteem  among  the  Royalists,  and  a  voluminous  writer.     He  died 

on  the  eve  of  the  Restoration. 

HARDWICKE,  HUMPHREY:  Rector  of  Hadham,  Herts  (appointed  May  1644). 

HARRIS,  JOHN,  D.D.  (Oxon.):  Rector  of  Moon  Stoke,  Hants,  and  Warden  of  Wyko- 
ham  College,  Winchester  ;  cetaJL.  55.  He  died  Aug.  1658.—  As  he  did  not  keep 
place  in  the  Assembly,  his  appointment  was  cancelled  by  the  Commons 
Oct.  11,  1643  ;  and  there  was  appointed  in  his  stead  (confirmed  by  the  Lords 
Oct.  16,  1643),  DANIEL  CAWDRKY  (Cantab.),  Rector  of  Great  Billing,  North- 
amptonthire.  He  died  1664. 

H.vmtis,  ROBERT,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Rector  of  Hanwell,  Oxfordshire ;  atat.  65.  He 
did  not  immediately  take  his  place  in  the  Assembly,  and,  after  he  did  take 
it,  was  more  of  a  listener  than  a  speaker.  He  was  afterwards  D.D.  and 
President  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  and  died  Dec.  1658,  (flat.  80. 

HBRLE,  CHARLES,  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Winwick  in  Lancashire  ;  crtat.  45.  Ho 
was  an  active  member  of  Assembly,  and,  on  Twisse's  death  in  1646,  suc- 
ceeded as  Prolocutor.  He  died  at  Winwick  1659. 

HRRRICK,  RICHARD,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Warden  of  the  Collegiate  Church,  Manchester; 
trtat.  M.  II-- died  1087. 

HICKRS,  JASPER,  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Vicar  of  Landrake  in  Cornwall ;  a-tat.  38 :  ob.  1677. 

11  ii  DKRSHAM,  SAMUEL,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  minister  of  West  Felton,  Shropshire. 

HILL,  THOMAS,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Titchmarsh  in  Northamptonshire,  and 
formerly  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge.  He  mur 
intimately  acquainted  with  Lord  Brooke,  whom  he  frequently  visited  at 
Warwick  Castle ;  and  he  had  married  a  governess  in  that  family.  He 
became  afterwards  Master  of  Emanuel  College,  and  then  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  and  D.D.  He  died  Dec.  18,  1653.  There  is  a  brief  memoir  of 
him  in  Clarke's  General  Martyrologie  (1677). 

HODOES,  THOMAS,  RD.  (Cantab.) :  Rector  of  Kensington.  Was  Dean  of  Hereford 
after  the  Restoration,  and  died  1672. 

HOLDSWORTH,  RICHARD,  D.D.  (Cantab.) :  Master  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge. 
Ho  never  sat  in  the  Assembly  ;  was  Royalist  throughout ;  suffered  much  for 
his  Royalism  ;  and  died  1649. 

HOYLE,  JOSHUA,  D.D.  (Oxon.):  Vicar  of  Stepney,  where  he  was  not  so  popular 
as  his  coadjutors,  the  two  lecturers  Burroughs  and  Greenhill.  He  had  been 
Divinity  Professor  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  but  had  been  driven  from 
Ireland  by  the  Rebellion.  Ho  was  afterwards  Master  of  University  College, 
Oxford,  and  died  1654. 

BUTTON,  HENRY,  M.A. :  minister  in  Cumberland. 

J.\<  KSON.  JOHN,  M.A. :  preacher  at  Gray's  Inn. 

I.  \N<  K,  WILLIAM  :  Rector  of  Harrow :  discontinued  his  attendance  very  soon. 
'  v.  .IHHN  :  Rector  of  West  Tytherley,  Hampshire. 

LEY,  JOHN,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Vicar  of  Great  Bud  worth,  Cheshire;  cetat.  60:  ol. 
1662,  tttat.  79. 

LIGHTFWT,  JOHN,  D.D.  (Cantab.):  tttat.  41.  This  eminent  theologian,  deemed 
the  most  learned  Orientalist  or  Rabbinical  scholar  of  his  age,  had  l>een 
educated  at  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  with  Chappell  for  his  tutor,  and 
had  completed  his  studies  there  just  when  Milton  was  beginning  his.  Ho 
was  Rector  of  Ashley  in  Staffordshire  when  the  Assembly  was  culled  ;  but 
soon  afterwards  was  promoted  to  the  living  of  Much-Mundon  in  Herts.  In 
1649  he  became  Master  of  Catherine  Hall,  Cambridge.  He  retained  both 
•-•rmontM  till  his  death  in  1675,  «<<>• 

i .  ta ! .. ) :  of  Bonnet,  or  Corpus  Christi,  College,  Cambridge. 

iiKivpn'iiKK,   M.A.  (Oxon.),  minister  of  St.   Annen,  Aldersgato, 

LoM'loti.  is  mentioned  by  some  as  one  of  the  suporaddod  divines.     He 

wax  of  \\VMi  l.irth  ;  ;in<l,  tl,.,u./!,  n<>t  tnorv  than  25  yean  of  age,  was 

already  widely  known  for  his  I'lv-l.yt.-ri.m  zeal. 

\Vi 1 1  i  \ M.  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Vicar  of  Sherlwrne,  Dorsetuhiro  ;  «t«t.  45.  H« 
never  sat  in  the  Asscinoly,  ami  livi-«l  till  K553,  when  he  died  "of  a  painful 
and  sharp  disease,  by  the  witchcraft,  as  'tis  said,  of  certain  ~ 


UIHI   nilill  I' u  worn?)    ujr    t-uu    T*  in  in.  i  *u  it   i\n     i>m  nu>i«*f    \Ji   wi  MIIII  ^UJ»»VUID« 

ii .  STEPHEN,  RD.  (Cantab.) :  Vicar  (?)  of  Finchingftold  in  Essex  ;  known 
as  one  of  the  best  Puritans  of  his  day,  and  aa  one  of  the  "  Smoctymnuans  "  ; 
and  by  many  thought  to  be  the  best  preacher  in  England.  Ho  lived,  greatly 


520  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

respected,  till  Nov.  1655,  when  he  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey  ;  whence, 
however,  after  the  Restoration,  his  body  was  removed  by  royal  warrant. 

MEW,  WILLIAM,  B.D.  :  of  Eastington,  Gloucestershire. 

MICKLBTHWAIT,  THOMAS  :  Rector  of  Cherry  Burton,  Yorkshire. 

MORE,  Mr.  :  a  superadded  member,  so  designated,  of  whom  nothing  is 
known  to  me  at  present. 

MORLEY,  GEORGE,  D.D.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Miklenhall,  Wilts  ;  cetat.  46.  He  was 
one  of  the  Falkland  group  of  Latitudinarian  thinkers  (Vol.  I.  p.  533),  and  a 
firm  Royalist  and  friend  of  Episcopacy.  He  therefore  never  went  near  the 
Assembly,  and  his  appointment  was  cancelled  Oct.  11,  1643.  He  kept  with 
the  King,  and  afterwards  lived  in  exile.  After  the  Restoration  he  was  made 
Bishop  of  Winchester.  He  died  in  1684;  a-tat.  87. — Instead  of  Morley,  a 
WILLIAM  RATHBONE  of  Highgate  was  appointed  member  of  Assembly,  Oct. 
23,  1643  ;  and  he,  dying  soon  after,  was  succeeded  (Oct.  18,  1644)  by  a  PHILIP 
DELME  (or  DELMAY),  minister  of  the  French  congregation  in  Canterbury. 

MORTON,  WILLIAM  :  of  Newcastle. — He  seems  to  have  died  before  taking  his  seat 
in  the  Assembly  ;  for  in  August  1643  there  was  appointed  in  his  room  FRANCIS 
WOODCOCK,  M.A.  (Oxon.),  lecturer  of  St.  Lawrence  Jewry,  London  ;  cetat.  29. 
He  was  afterwards  minister  of  St.  Olave's,  Southwark,  and  died  1651. 

NEWCOMEN,  MATTHEW,  M.A.  (Cantab.):  Vicar  of  Dedham  in  Essex,  an  eminent 
Puritan,  and  one  of  the  "  Symectymnuans."  He  lost  his  living  after  the 
Restoration,  went  abroad,  and  became  pastor  of  the  English  Church  at 
Leyden,  where  he  died. 

NEWSCORE,  WILLIAM  :  a  superadded  member  (?). 

NICOLSON,  WILLIAM,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Archdeacon  of  Brecknock;  cetat.  52.  He 
never  sat  in  the  Assembly,  but  remained  a  firm  Royalist  and  Episcopalian, 
occupying  himself,  through  the  Commonwealth  time,  as  a  schoolmaster  in 
Wales.  After  the  Restoration  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Gloucester. — Nicol- 
son's  appointment  to  the  Assembly  having  been  cancelled  by  the  Commons, 
Oct.  23,  1643,  there  was  substituted  THOMAS  CLENDON,  of  Barking. 

NYE,  HENRY  :  minister  of  Clapham. — He  died  ere  the  Assembly  had  well  begun  ; 
and  JOHN  MAYNARD,  M.A.  (Oxon.),  Vicar  of  Mayfield  in  Sussex,  was  appointed 
in  his  place  (Sept.  15,  1643).  This  Maynard  lived  till  after  the  Restoration. 

NYE,  PHILIP,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  brother  of  the  above;  minister  of  Kimbolton  in 
Hunts  ;  cetat.  47.  He  was  a  very  pronounced  Puritan  ;  had  been  in  exile  in 
Holland,  and  minister  there,  along  with  Goodwin,  to  the  English  in  Arnheim, 
whence  he  had  but  recently  returned.  He  had  married  a  daughter  of  Stephen 
Marshall.  He  was  a  very  active  member  of  Assembly  and  politician  through 
the  time  of  the  Civil  War  and  Commonwealth.  After  the  Restoration  he 
was  minister  to  a  private  congregation  in  London,  where  he  died  1672, 
cetat.  76. 

PAINTER,  HENRY,  B.D.  :  of  Exeter.  He  died  before  Nov.  2,  1644 ;  and  JOHN 
WARD  of  Ipswich  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 

PALMER,  HERBERT,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  Vicar  of  Ash  well,  Herts,  since  1632;  cetatA2.  He 
was  a  very  active  member,  and  was  appointed  at  length  one  of  the  Assessors  to 
the  Prolocutor.  His  duties  in  the  Assembly  preventing  him  from  visiting  his 
own  parish  except  occasionally,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  be  preacher  in 
Duke's  Place,  London,  and  afterwards  the  charge  of  a  new  church  just  built 
in  Westminster,  where  he  had  many  of  the  members  of  the  two  Houses  as  his 
regular  hearers.  In  April  1644  he  was  made  Master  of  Queen's  College, 
Cambridge  ;  which  office  he  retained  till  his  death  in  1647,  cetat.  46.  He  was 
a  man  of  small  stature,  very  puny  appearance,  and  delicate  health.  His 
private  means  were  considerable,  —his  father  having  been  a  Kentish  Knight  or 
Baronet ;  and  one  of  his  accomplishments  was  skill  in  French,  in  which 
tongue  he  could  speak  or  preach  as  well  as  in  English.  Before  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  Vicarage  of  Ashwell,  he  had  been  for  some  years  in  Canterbury, 
holding  a  special  lectureship  in  one  of  the  churches  of  that  city,  and  once  or 
twice  preaching  also  in  French  to  the  French  congregation  there.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  an  "ancient  French  gentlewoman,"  when  she  saw  him  first 
going  into  the  pulpit,  was  so  startled  with  his  small  size  that  she  exclaimed 
"  Hola  !  que  nous  dira  cet  enfant  id  1 " — An  interesting  fact  respecting  Palmer, 
recently  discovered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  B.  Grosart,  is  that  he  was  the  real  author 
of  the  "Christian  Paradoxes,"  so  long  attributed  to  Lord  Bacon,  and  printed 
in  the  editions  of  Bacon's  works,  and  on  which  so  many  speculations  as  to 
Bacon's  religious  opinions  have  been  based.  See  Dr.  Grosart's  Lord  Bacon 
not  the  Avt/ior  of  "The  Christian  Paradoxes"  (1864),  where  there  is  much 


July  1643.]       LIST  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  521 

information  about  Palmer.    See  also  a  memoir  of  him,  with  portrait,  in 
Clarke's  Live*  appended  to  hia  General  Marty rol<xji<  (1677). 

I'\>MI.KY,  CHRISTOPHER,  D.D. :  of  Hawardon,  Flintshire. 

PBALB,  EDWARD  :  of  Compton,  Dorsetshire. — He  seems  to  have  died  before  Dec.  31, 
1645  ;  on  which  day  the  Commons  appointed  as  his  successor  (confirmed  by  the 
Lords  Jan.  3,  1645-6)  WILLIAM  STRONG  (Cantab.),  Rector  of  More-Crichol, 
Dorsetshire,  then  driven  to  London  by  the  stress  of  the  Civil  War.  lie  was 
afterwards  minister  of  St.  Dunstan  s-in-the-West,  and  preacher  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  He  died  suddenly,  July  1654,  and  was  buried  in  the  Abbey. 

PBRNB,  ANDREW  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Wilby,  Northamptonshire;  cetat.  49.  He 
died  1654,  <»/«/.  60. 

PHILLIPS,  JOHN  :  Rector  of  Wrentham,  Suffolk. 

PICKERING,  BENJAMIN  :  Rector  of  East  Hoathly,  Sussex. 

PRICE,  WILLIAM  :  minister  of  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden. 

PROPHET,  NICHOLAS  :  of  Marlborough,  Wilts. 

PYNE,  JOHN  :  Rector  of  Beer-Ferris,  Devon. 

REYNOLDS,  EDWARD,  M.A.  (Oxon.):  Rector  of  Braunston,  Northamptonshire; 
ittut.  44.  He  was  in  great  repute  as  a  Greek  scholar  and  as  a  preacher, 
though  with  a  hoarse  voice  ;  was  a  zealous  Presbyterian  and  active  member 
of  the  Assembly  ;  and,  on  the  Parliamentary  Visitation  of  Oxford,  when  the 
Royalist  Heads  of  Colleges  were  turned  out,  he  became  Dean  of  Christchurch, 
Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University,  and  D.  D.  He  persevered  in  his  Puritanism 
through  the  rest  of  the  Commonwealth  period  ;  but  it  was  rather  a  surprise 
when,  after  the  Restoration,  he  conformed  to  the  new  order  of  things  and  let 
himself  be  made  Bishop  of  Norwich  (Jan.  1,  1660-1).  People  attributed  the 
change  to  the  influence  of  a  politic  wife.  He  died  in  1676,  wtat.  77. 

RBYNOR,  WILLIAM,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  Vicar  of  Egham,  Surrey. 

SALWAY,  ARTHUR,  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Severn  Stoke,  Worcestershire. 

SAUNDBRSON,  ROBERT,  D.D.  (Oxon.) :  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  King,  and  Regius 
Professor  of  Divinity  at  Oxford.  He  never  took  his  place  in  the  Assembly, 
but  remained  with  the  Ring,  who  held  him  in  high  regard  and  employed  him 
much.  He  was  subsequently  ejected  from  his  Professorship  by  Parliament, 
but  was  reinstated  at  the  Restoration,  and  shortly  afterwards  promoted  to 
the  Bishopric  of  Lincoln.  Ho  died  Jan.  1662-3,  «•/«/.  75,  and,  even  had  he 
not  figured  in  "  Walton's  Liven,"  would  have  been  long  remembered  as  one  of 
the  ornaments  of  the  Church  of  England.  His  Compendium  of  Logic  had 
been  published  in  1615,  when  he  was  but  a  young  man. 

SCUDDER,  HENRY  (Cantab.) :  Rector  of  Collingbourn  Ducis,  Wilts. 

SBAMAN,  LAZARUS,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  minister  of  Allhallows,  Bread  Street,  London,— 
the  parish  in  which  Milton  had  been  born,  and  in  the  church  of  which  ho  had 
been  baptized.  He  was  one  of  the  four  divines  who  were  chosen  to  repre- 
sent London  in  the  Assembly.  He  had  a  great  reputation  as  an  Orientalist, 
and  "always  carried  about  with  him  a  small  Plantin  Hebrew  Bible  without 
points."  He  was  very  active  in  the  Assembly  ;  and  was  made  Master  of  Peter- 
house,  Cambridge,  on  the  Parliamentary  Visitation  of  the  University,  1644. 
After  the  Restoration  he  was  ejected  from  his  Mastership.  Ho  died  1667, 
leaving  a  valuable  library. 

SBDOWK  K,  OH APIAII,  B.D.  (Oxon.) :  Vicar  of  Coggeshall,  Essex  ;  «Y«/.  43.  He  wax 
afterwards  preacher  at  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  and  died  Jan.  1667-8! 
cetat.  57. 

'SIMPSON,  KIDKACH  (Cantab.):  preacher  in  London.  Ho  had  been  an  exile  in 
Holland  during  the  Laudian  rule  ;  co-pastor  there  with  Bridge  to  the  English 
in  Rotterdam  ;  and  had  there  imbibed  the  opinions  that  made  him  one  of  the 
small  party  of  "  Independents "  in  the  Assembly.  Ho  continued  to  preach 
in  London  to  an  IndojKjnclunt  congregation  till  1650,  when  ho  was  made 
Master  of  Pembroke  H.-ill.  <  •.•ml.ridge.  He  died  1658. 

SMITH,  PETER,  D.D.  (Cantab.):  Vicar  of  Barkway,  Herts. 

•A.  WII.IIAM,  M.A.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Hampden,  Bucks  (Hampden's 
parish).  He  was  one  of  the  "  Smectymnuans  "  ;  was  afterwards  for  a  time 
Master  of  Catherine  Hall,  Cambridge;  then  minister  of  Hackney,-  fn.in 
which  {wirish  he  was  ejected  after  the  Restoration.  Ho  died  1666. 

STAUNTON,  EDMUND,  D.D.  (Oxon.):  Vicar  of  Kingston-upon-Thames,  Surrey; 
atal.  42.  On  the  Parliamentary  Visitation  «>f  Oxford  in  1648  he  was  made 
President  of  Corpus  Christi  College  ;  but,  being  ejected  at  the  Restoration, 
retired  into  Herta,  where  he  continued  to  preach  till  his  death  in  1671, 
aint.  70. 


522  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  IIISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

STERRY,  PETER,  B.D.  (Cantab.).  He  had  been  a  Fellow  of  Emanuel  College, 
Cambridge  ;  but  was  now  a  preacher  in  London.  He  was  a  special  friend 
of  the  younger  Sir  Harry  Vane,  and  will  be  more  heard  of. 

STYLES,  MATTHIAS,  D.D.  :  of  St.  George's,  Eastcheap,  London.  He  was  chosen  as 
one  of  the  representatives  of  Oxford  University  in  the  Assembly. 

TAYLOR,  FRANCIS,  M.A.  :  Vicar  (?)  of  Yalding,  Kent.  He  was  considered  a 
learned  Orientalist ;  and,  after  serving  in  the  Assembly,  he  became  preacher 
in  Canterbury,  where  he  died  after  the  Restoration. 

TEMPLE,  THOMAS,  D.D.  (Oxon.) :  minister  of  Battersea,  Surrey. 

THOROUGHGOOD,  THOMAS  (Cantab.) :  of  Massingham,  Norfolk. 

TISDALE,  CHRISTOPHER  :  of  Uphurst-Bourne,  Hants. 

TOZER,  HENRY,  B.D.  (Oxon.):  Fellow  of  Exeter  College  in  Oxford  University  ; 
ct'tat.  41.  He  afterwards  went  to  Rotterdam,  where  he  became  minister  to 
the  company  of  English  merchants,  and  died  1650,  cetat.  48. 

TUCKNEY,  ANTHONY,  D.D.  (Cantab.) :  Vicar  of  Boston  in  Lincolnshire  ;  cetat.  44. 
He  was  made  Master  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  in  1644  ;  was  after- 
wards Master  of  St.  John's  and  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  same 
University  ;  but  had  to  give  up  these  offices  at  the  Restoration.  He  died  in 
London,  Feb.  1669-70  ;  cetat.  71. 

USHER,  JAMES,  D.D.  :  Archbishop  of  Armagh  ;  originally  chosen  for  the  Assembly 
as  one  of  the  representatives  of  Oxford  University.  He  did  not  go  near  the 
Assembly,  but  remained  with  the  King  at  Oxford.  His  appointment  was  con- 
sequently cancelled  Oct.  11,  1643,  and  in  his  stead  there  was  appointed  JOHN 
BOND,  of  Exeter. 

VALENTINE,  THOMAS,  B.D.  :  Rector  of  Chalfont  St.  Giles,  Bucks. 

VINES,  RICHARD,  M.A.  (Cantab.) :  of  Calcott ;  cetat.  43.  He  had  been  schoolmaster 
of  Hinckley  in  Leicestershire,  and  had  had  the  satirist  Cleveland  among  his 
pupils  (Vol.  I.  p.  186).  He  was  a  most  active  member  of  the  Assembly  ;  very 
powerful  in  debate,  and  "therefore  called  their  Luther,"  says  Fuller  ;  also 
"  an  excellent  preacher,"  and  much  respected  on  all  accounts.  He  was  made 
Master  of  Pembroke  Hall,  Cambridge,  in  the  Visitation  of  1644,  and  was  also 
minister  successively  of  several  London  parishes, — the  last  being  St.  Lawrence 
Jewry.  He  died  Feb.  1655-6.  Only  a  week  before  his  death,  when  he  was 
preaching  in  London,  and  was  so  weak  in  body  that  the  power  of  his  voice  had 
failed,  a  rude  fellow  in  the  congregation  (the  story  is  Fuller's)  called  out 
"Lift  up  your  voice,  for  I  cannot  hear  you."  Vines  replied,  "Lift  up  your 
ears,  for  I  can  speak  no  louder." 

WALKER,  GEORGE,  B.D.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  Watling 
Street,  London.  He  was  of  considerable  note  as  an  Orientalist  and  logician  ; 
and  his  "Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Weekly  Sabbath,"  published  in  1641,  was  in 
repute  as  an  exposition  of  strict  Sabbatarianism.  He  had  been  imprisoned, 
and  had  otherwise  suffered  for  his  Puritanism,  during  Laud's  rule.  He  was 
first  designated  for  the  Assembly  as  one  of  the  four  representatives  chosen 
for  the  London  clergy. 

WARD,  SAMUEL,  D.D.  (Cantab.):  Master  of  Sidney-Sussex  College  (see  Vol.  I. 
p.  118).  He  and  Bishop  Brownrigge  were  intended  as  representatives  of 
Cambridge  University  in  the  Assembly  ;  but  he  declined  to  attend  ;  was 
ejected  from  his  Mastership,  and  died  soon  after. — In  his  place  in  the 
Assembly  was  appointed  (Sept.  14,  1643)  JOHN  STRICKLAND,  of  New  Sarum. 

WELBY,  JAMES:  of  Selattyn,  Shropshire. 

WKSTFIELD,  THOMAS,  D.D.  (Cantab.):  Bishop  of  Bristol;  cetat.  70.  Though  a 
Bishop,  he  did  make  his  appearance  in  the  Assembly  ;  and  the  Parliament 
had  such  an  esteem  for  him  on  account  of  this  compliance  that  they  gave 
him  a  pass  to  Bristol,  and  allowed  him  to  retain  the  profits  of  his  Bishopric. 
He  died  June  25,  1644,  cetat.  71. 

WHIDDON,  FRANCIS,  M.A.  :  Rector  of  Moreton-Hampstead,  Devon. 

WHITAKER,  JEREMIAH,  M.A.  (Cantab.):  Rector  of  Stretton,  Rutlandshire;  cetat.  44. 
He  was  a  man  of  learning,  of  high  note  among  the  Presbyterians  (who 
punned  upon  their  two  acres,  Gather  and  Whitoler),  and  very  active  in  the 
Assembly.  He  was  made  Rector  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  Bermondsey  ;  was 
incessant  in  preaching  there  and  elsewhere,  and  died  in  1654.  Clarke  in- 
cludes him  in  his  memoirs  of  Puritan  divines  appended  to  his  Martyrologie 
(1677). 

WHITE,  JOHN.  M.A.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Dorchester  ;  cetat.  68.  He  was  a  man  of 
so  great  influence  in  Dorchester,  and  among  all  the  Puritan  clergy  around, 
that  he  came  to  be  known  as  "  Patriarch  White."  He  was  one  of  the  Assessors 


July  1643.]         LIST  OF  THK  WKsTMINSTEK  ASSEMBLY.  523 

to  the  Prolocutor,— the  other  being  Dr.  Cornelius  Burgee,  whose  sister  he 
had  married.  In  1644,  when  Dr.  Foatley  was  ejected  from  the  Rectory  <>f 
LamU-th.  it  was  given  to  Mr.  White,  together  with  a  grant  of  Dr.  Featley's 
library  until  his  own  library  at  Dorchester  should  be  recovered  from  the 
King'*  troops.  He  died  at  Dorchester,  July  1648,  <>(,<(.  7-'*. 

WIIKIN-.N.  HKNKV.  Son..  B.D.  (Oxon.) :  Rector  of  Waddesdon,  Bucks;  <,tut.  77. 
Tlii-;  venerable  person,  chosen  on  account  of  his  being  "an  old  Puritan," 
died  March  1647-8,  atat.  81. 

WII.KIXMIX.  HKXHY,  .Inn.,  B.D.  (Oxon.):  one  of  the  sons  of  the  above  ;  attit.  :M. 
He  had  been  a  noted  tutor  and  divinity  reader  in  Magdalen  Hall ;  but,  having 
offended  the  University  authorities  by  a  Puritan  sermon  in  1640,  he  had  been 
susjKmded.  Parliament  afterwards  removed  the  suspension  and  ordered  the 
sermon  to  be  printed.  Ho  became  minister  of  St.  Faith's,  and  then  of  St. 
DiinstanVin-the-West.  in  London;  and  was  afterwards  made  Follow  of 
Magdalen,  Canon  of  Christchurch,  Margaret  Professor  of  Divinity,  ami 
!>.!>.  Ejected  at  the  Restoration,  he  lived  on  as  a  preacher  at  Clapham  till 
l'->7.'>.  He  was  "an  excellent  preacher,"  though  his  voice  was  "shrill  and 
whining."  He  was  called  " /,«»/,//  Harry"  to  distinguish  him  from  another 
jKjrson  of  the  same  name,  called  Dean  I  furry,  who  lived  till  1690.  This 
II  'i-ry  was  also  a  zealous  Puritan  and  Parliamentarian;  but  he  was 
not  a  member  of  Assembly.  There  were,  in  fact,  three  Henry  Wilkinsons 
alive-  in  1G1-'J,  all  Oxford  men  and  all  Parliamentarians.  Neal  has  confounded 
him/  Hurry  with  Demi  Harry. 

WILSON,  THOMAS,  M.A.  (Cantab.) :  Rector  of  Otham,  Kent ;  <rto/.  42.  He  had 
formerly  been  minister  of  Maidstone,  and  had  been  suspended  for  Puritanism. 
II.  lived  till  1651. 

WiN.ni',  .I..MN.  D.D. :  of  St.  Martin's-in-the- Fields,  London. 

WiN«.i>,  THOMAS,  D.D.  :  of  Elsw6rth,  Cambridgeshire. 

THOMAS,  M.A.  (St.  Andrews,  Scotland):  Vicar  of  Stowmarket,  Suffolk  : 
alaf.  56.  This  is  Milton's  old  preceptor,  already  so  well  known  to  us  (Vol.  I. 
pp.  68-72,  and  184-186).  To  his  former  merits  among  the  Puritans  of  Eng- 
land he  had  recently  added  that  of  being  one  of  the  "Smectymnuans," — in- 
deed, as  we  have  seen,  the  chief  of  that  group  of  five.  He  was  rewarded,  in 
1644,  on  the  Parliamentary  Visitation  of  Cambridge,  with  the  Mastership  of 
Jesus  College  in  that  University  ;  on  which  occasion  his  St.  Andrews  degree 
of  M.A.  was  changed  into  a  Cambridge  one.  While  attending  the  Assembly 
lie  did  duty  as  a  preacher  in  Duke's  Place,  Aldgate,  succeeding  Mr.  Herbert 
Palmer  in  that  charge  when  Palmer  was  transferred  to  the  new  church  in 
Westminster. 

III. — LAY    MEMBERS    OF    THE    ASSEMBLY. 

A  novelty  in  the  Assembly,  significant  of  the  new  spirit  in 
ecclesiastical  matters  that  h-id  «>me  to  prevail  in  England,  was  the 
presence  in  it  of  a  certain  number  of  Lay  Assessors,  appointed  by 
Parliament,  with  the  saim-  rights  of  deliberation  and  voting  that 
belonged  to  the  Divines.  Indeed,  in  the  Ordinance  calling  tin- 
Assembly  the  names  of  the  lay  members  are  placed  first.  They 
•JO  in  all, — ten  from  the  House  of  Lords,  and  20  from  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  following  is  a  list  of  them,  with  asterisks 
prefixed  to  the  names  of  those  that  seem  to  have  taken  an  etfV<  ti\. 
part  in  the  proceed! 

I'KI 

•  nit.   llm.i  \MI.   *  M.\M  MI .NTKU,   N"in  m  Mnrui  AM>.   PKMMKMKK 

mil     S\l  mm  \i\  '        rWAl     aii-l     *S.\VK     and 

:    K    and    *\N  II  \ltT«'\        (In    II  • 

of   Bedford,    Holland,   ami    < 'onway    from    tin-   I'arli.inicntai  '    i    the 

meeting  »f   tl,.-  AswniMy,    th«     i  n    mid 

Lord  (JitKv   01    WAUK   wn  ted   for   tl,.-m  :  and   tin-   F.-irl   of   E88BX 

was  cuperadded  ou  his  own  account.  .Ian.  1- 


524 


LIFE   OF  MILTON   AND   HISTOKY   OF   HIS   TIME. 


COMMONERS. 


BARRINGTON,  SIR  THOS.  ,  Bart.  On  his 
death,  SIR  WILLIAM  MASHAM, 
Bart.,  was  substituted  (Dec.  6, 
1644). 

CLOTWORTHY,  SIR  JOHN,  Knt. 

EVELYN,  SIR  JOHN,  Knt. 

*GLYNN,  JOHN. 

MAYNARD,  JOHN. 

PIERREPOINT,  WILLIAM. 

PRIDEAUX,  EDMUND. 

PYM,  JOHN.  On  his  death  *SiR  ROBERT 
HARLEY  was  substituted  (Dec.  15, 
1643). 


*Rous,  FRANCIS. 

*RUDYARD,  SIR  BENJAMIN,  Knt. 

*ST.  JOHN,  OLIVER. 

*SALWAY,  HUMPHREY. 

*SELDEN,  JOHN. 

VANE,  SIR  HENRY,  Sen.,  Knt. 

*VANE,  SIR  HENRY,  Jun.,  Knt. 

WHEELER,  WILLIAM. 

WHITE,  JOHN.     On  his  death  WILLIAM 

STRODE  was  substituted. 
*WHITLOCKE,  BULSTRODE. 
WYLDE,  JOHN. 
YOUNG,  WALTER. 


Two  Commoners  superadded,  to  keep  the  proportion  even  between  the  two 
Houses,  at  the  time  when  the  Peers  superadded  Essex  (Jan.  3,  1643-4),  were  SIR 
ARTHUR  HASELRIG,  Bart.,  and  ROBERT  REYNOLDS.! 

Such  was  the  famous  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY,  called 
together  by  the  Parliament  of  England  to  consider  the  entire 
state  of  the  country  in  matters  of  Religion.  The  business 
entrusted  to  it  was  vast  and  complex.  It  was  to  revise  and 
re-define  the  national  creed,  after  its  long  lapse  into  so-called 
Arminianism  and  semi-Popish  error,  and  to  advise  also  as  to 


1  The  preparation  of  this  List  of  the 
Members  of  the  Westminster  Assembly 
has  been  a  task  of  considerable  labour  ; 
and,  with  all  my  pains,  I  cannot  certify 
that  it  is  perfectly  correct. — The  basis 
is  the  list  of  the  members  originally 
appointed  by  the  Ordinance  as  given 
in  the  Lords  Journals  under  date  June 
12,  1643.  But  the  names  are  very  care- 
lessly printed  there,  and  are  accom- 
panied with  very  scanty  indications  re- 
specting the  persons  to  whom  they 
belong.  Later  entries  both  in  the  Lords 
Journals  and  in  those  of  the  Commons 
supply  the  names  of  members  added 
from  time  to  time.  In  Neal's  History  of 
the  Puritans  there  is  a  list  of  the  original 
and  superadded  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly (edit.  1795,  Vol.  III.  pp.  50-54)  ; 
but  in  that  list  there  are  many  errors. 
Prefixed  to  Notes  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  by  George  Gillespie 
(edited  from  the  MSS.  by  David  Meek  : 
Edin.  1846)  there  are  various  lists  which 
I  have  found  useful.  But,  all  in  all,  I 
have  had  to  check  these  lists,  and  rectify 
the  names  both  of  persons  and  parishes, 
by  independent  research,  and  especially 
by  reference,  in  every  possible  case,  to 
Anthony  Wood's  Athence  et  Fasti  Ox- 
onienses.  —  For  the  biographical  par- 
ticulars appended  to  most  of  the  names 
my  authorities  have  been  various. 
Neal's  notices  of  eminent  Noncon- 


formists, scattered  through  his  History 
of  tfie  Puritans,  have,  of  course,  been 
consulted.  But,  in  many  cases,  these 
notices  are  simply  scraps  from  Wood  ; 
and  I  have  gone,  in  these  cases,  to 
Wood  himself.  In  that  great  store- 
house there  is  information  not  only 
about  most  of  the  Oxford  men,  but 
also  (though  indirectly)  about  some  of 
the  Cambridge  men.  Alas  that  Mr. 
Cooper  did  not  live  long  enough  to  add 
a  volume  or  two  more  to  the  two  pub- 
lished volumes  of  his  Athence  Canta- 
brlyienses  !  As  it  is,  I  have  ranged  for 
particulars  about  the  Cambridge  men 
in  various  other  quarters, — including 
Fuller's  Worthies,  his  Church  History, 
&c.  Baillie's  Letters  have  furnished  me 
with  some  items  ;  also  Lightfoot's  Notes 
of  the  Westminster  Assembly  (Works : 
Vol.  XIII.).  Hetherington's  History  of 
the  Westminster  Assembly  (Edin.  1843)  is 
very  slight. — The  original  Minutes  of 
the  Assembly  by  the  Scribes  are  pre- 
served in  Williams's  Library,  London  ; 
and  transcripts  of  them,  procured  by 
a  Committee  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  were 
published  in  1874  under  the  editorship 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alex.  F.  Mitchell  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Struthers.  The 
Westminster  Assembly  :  its  History  and 
Standards  is  the  title  of  an  independent 
book  by  Dr.  Mitchell,  published  in  1883. 


July  1643.]       MEETING  OF  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.          525 

the  new  system  of  Church  government  and  the  new  forms  of 
worship  that  should  come  in  place  of  rejected  Episcopacy 
and  the  condemned  Liturgy.  For  it  was  still,  be  it  remem- 
bered, the  universal  notion  among  English  politicians  that 
there  must  be  a  National  Church,  and  that  no  man,  woman, 
or  child  within  the  land  should  be  permitted  to  be  out  of  the 
pale  of  that  Church.  It  was  still  the  notion  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  frame  a  certain  number  of  propositions  respecting 
God,  Heaven,  Angels,  Hell,  Devils,  the  Creation  of  the 
Universe,  the  Soul  of  Man,  Sin  and  its  remedy,  a  life  beyond 
Death,  and  all  the  other  most  tremendous  subjects  of  human 
contempktion,  that  should  be  absolutely  true,  or  at  least  so 
just  and  sure  a  compendium  of  truth  that  the  nation  must 
be  tied  up  to  it,  and  it  would  be  wrong  to  allow  any  man, 
woman,  or  child,  subject  to  the  law  of  England,  to  be  astray 
from  it  in  any  item.  This  was  the  notion,  and  those  149 
persons  were  appointed  to  frame  the  all-important  proposi- 
tions, or  find  them  out  by  a  due  revision  of  the  old  Articles, 
and  to  report  to  Parliament  on  that  subject,  as  well  as  on  the 
subjects  of  Church  organization  and  Forms  of  Worship. 

The  appointment,  among  the  original  149  or  150  members 
of  Assembly,1  of  such  persons  as  Archbishop  Usher,  Bishops 
Brownrigge  and  Westfield,  Featley,  Hacket,  Hammond,  Holds- 
worth,  Morley,  Nicolson,  Saunderson,  and  Samuel  Ward, — 
all  of  them  defenders  of  an  Episcopacy  of  some  kind, — seems 
hardly  reconcilable  with  the  very  terms  of  the  Ordinance 
calling  the  Assembly.  That  Ordinance  implied  that  Epis- 
copacy was  condemned  and  done  with,  and  it  convoked  the 
Assembly  for  the  express  purpose  of  considering,  among  other 
things,  what  should  be  put  in  its  stead.  It  may  have  been 
thought,  however,  that  it  would  impart  a  more  liberal  and 
eclectic  character  to  the  Assembly  to  send  a  sprinkling  of 

1  Some   vigilant   reader   may    have  named  in  the  Ordinance  of  Juno  1643, 

taken  the  trouble  of  counting  my  list  he    certainly    was   in    the    Assembly 

of  the  original  members  of  Assembly,  almost,  if  not  altogether,  from  the  first 

and  observed  that  they  are  not  149  but  (Baillio,  II,  110).     Thu  Ordinance  may 

150.     This    in    accounted    fur    by   my  have  intended  n  total  of  160  (120  divines 

having  included  I'KTBK  STKUIIY  among  and  30  laymen) ;  and  the  omission  of 

the  divines.     He  had  been  one  of  the  S  terry's  name  in  the  copy  in  the  Lords 

fourteen  divines  proposed  by  the  Lords  Journals  may  be  accidental, 
in  May  1642;  and,  though  he  is  not 


526  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

known  Anglicans  into  it ;  or  it  may  have  been  thought  right 
to  give  some  of  the  most  respected  of  these  an  opportunity  of 
retrieving  themselves  by  acquiescing  in  what  they  could  not 
prevent.1  As  it  chanced,  however,  the  refusal  of  most  of 
these  to  appear  in  the  Assembly  at  all,  and  the  all  but 
immediate  dropping-off  of  the  one  or  two  who  did  appear  at 
first,  saved  the  Assembly  much  trouble.  It  became  thus  a 
compact  body,  fit  for  its  work,  and  in  the  main  of  one  mind 
and  way  of  thinking  on  some  of  the  problems  submitted 
to  it. 

In  respect  of  theological  doctrine,  for  example,  the  As- 
sembly, as  it  was  then  left,  was  practically  unanimous.  They 
were,  almost  to  a  man,  Calvinists,  or  Anti-Arininians,  pledged 
by  their  antecedents  to  such  a  revision  of  the  Articles  as 
should  make  the  national  creed  more  distinctly  Calvinistic 
than  before.  Moreover,  they  were  agreed  as  to  their  method 
for  determining  doctrine.  It  was  to  be  the  rigid  application 
of  the  Protestant  principle  that  the  Bible  is  the  sole  rule  of 
Faith.  The  careful  interpretation  of  Scripture, — i.e.  the  col- 
lecting, on  any  occasion  of  discussion,  of  all  the  texts  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  bearing  on  the  point  discussed,  and 
the  examination  of  these  texts  singly  and  in  their  connexion, 
and  in  the  original  tongues  when  necessary,  so  as  to  ascertain 
their  exact  sense :  this  was  the  understood  rule  with  them 
all.  Learning  was,  indeed,  in  demand,  and  the  chief  scholars, 
especially  the  chief  Hebraists  and  Eabbinists,  of  the  Assembly 
were  much  looked  up  to :  there  might  be  references  also  to 
the  Fathers  and  to  Councils ;  no  kind  of  historical  lore  but 
would  be  welcome :  only  all  must  subserve  the  one  purpose 
of  interpreting  Scripture ;  and  Fathers,  Councils,  and  what 
not,  could  be  cited  not  as  authorities,  but  only  as  witnesses. 
This  understanding  as  to  the  determination  of  doctrine  by  the 

1  It  ought  to  be  remembered  too  that  did    so    only    in  consequence    of    the 

all  these  persons  had  been  nominated  "large  testimony  of  him"  given  by 

for  the  Assembly  more  than  a  year  divers  of  the  Lords,  who  desired  the 

before  it  actually  met,  and  while  the  Commons  not  to   "put  that  disgrace 

war  had  not  yet  begun.     It  was  with  upon  him  "  of  refusing  him  after  he  had 

difficulty  even  then  that  the  Commons  been  nominated   (Commons  Journals, 

accepted    Dr.    Hammond   among  the  June  1,  1642). 
fourteen  nominees  of  the  Lords.     They 


July  1643.]      MEETING  OF  THK  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  527 

Bible  alone,  accompanied  as  it  was  by  a  nearly  unanimous 
pre-conviction  that  it  was  the  Calvinistic  body  of  doctrines 
alone  that  could  be  reasoned  out  of  the  Bible,  was  to  keep  the 
Assembly,  I  repeat,  pretty  much  together  from  the  first  in 
mailers  of  creed  and  theology.  For  perplexing  questions  as 
to  the  extent  and  limits  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  had 
not  yet  publicly  arisen  to  invalidate  the  accepted  method. 
Thi'i-e  were  the  germs  of  such  questions  in  the  theological 
mind  of  England,  as  elsewhere  in  Europe ;  and  they  were 
perhaps  not  unrepresented  in  the  thoughts  of  some  in  the 
Assembly.  The  conditions  were,  however,  such  as  to  crush 
such  thoughts  down  into  secrecy.  Only  in  one  form  perhaps 
was  there  known  to  be  represented  by  some  few  in  the 
Assembly  a  principle  of  Biblical  interpretation  that  might 
possibly  lead  to  differences  of  theology  and  to  deviations  from 
( 'alvinism.  This  was  the  principle  of  the  "  Inner  Light,"  or 
an  intuition  of  Divine  Truth,  by  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  in  eacli 
individual  heart.  This  principle,  not  being  in  conflict  with 
the  cardinal  maxim  of  Protestantism  respecting  the  Bible, 
could  hardly  be  directly  opposed ;  but  dangers  from  it  were 
foreseen.  For,  once  let  this  "  Inner  Light "  be  the  best 
interpreter  of  Scripture,  and  the  standard  of  sound  doctrine 
would  no  longer  be  the  distinct  objective  standard  of  what 
the  Bible  says,  but  would  tend  rather  to  shift  itself  into 
each  man's  constitutional  fervours  and  excitements  playing 
over  the  Bible  in  the  vague,  or  over  what  in  it  pleased 
him  best 

It  was,  however,  only  or  mainly  on  the  question  of  Church 
Government  that  the  Assembly  knew  itself  from  the  first  to 
U-  divided  into  parties.  Or,  rather,  it  was  on  this  question 
that  the  Assembly,  more  distinctly  than  it  could  have  fore- 
seen at  first,  did  divide  itself  into  parties.  But  that  is  a  story 
for  our  next  Volume,  and  for  which  the  remainder  of  this 
Volume  must  be  regarded  meanwhile  as  an  absolutely 
necessary  preparation. 


BOOK  IV. 

ENGLISH  PBESBYTERIANISM  AND  ENGLISH  INDEPENDENCY 
THEIR  HISTORY  TO  1643. 


VOL.  II  2  M 


BOOK  IV. 

ENGLISH    PRESBYTERIANISM    AND    ENQLI8H    INDEPENDENCY  : 
THKIR    HISTORY   TO    1643. 

Ax  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  Westminster  Assembly 
there  was  a  tradition  in  the  Puritan  mind  of  England  of  two 
varieties  of  opinion  as  to  the  form  of  Church  government 
and  discipline  that  should  be  substituted  for  Episcopacy. 

ENGLISH    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

In  the  first  place,  there  was  a  tradition  of  the  system 
of  views  known  as  PRESBYTERIANISM  : — From  the  beginning 
of  Elizabeth's  reign,  if  not  earlier,  there  had  been  Noncon- 
formists who  held  that  some  form  of  the  consistorial  model 
which  Calvin  had  set  up  in  Geneva,  and  which  Knox 
enlarged  for  Scotland,  was  the  best  for  England  too.  Thus 
Fuller,  who  dates  the  use  of  the  term  "  Puritans,"  as  a 
ni«  kname  for  the  English  Nonconformists  generally,  from 
the  year  1564,  and  who  goes  on  to  say  that  within  a  few 
years  after  that  date  the  chief  of  those  to  whom  that  term  was 
first  applied  were  either  dead  or  very  aged,  adds :  "  Behold 
"  another  generation  of  active  and  zealous  Nonconformists 
"  succeeded  them :  of  these  Coleman,  Button,  Halingham, 
"  and  Benson  (whose  Christian  names  I  cannot  recover) 
"  were  the  chief ;  inveighing  against  the  established  Church- 
"  discipline,  accounting  everything  from  Home  that  was  not 
"  from  Geneva,  endeavouring  in  all  things  to  conform  the 
"  Government  of  the  English  Church  to  the  Presbyteii.m 
Actually,  in  1572,  Fuller  proceeds  to  tell 


532  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

us,  a  Presbytery,  the  first  in  England,  was  set  up  at  Wands- 
worth  in  Surrey ;  i.e.  in  that  year  a  certain  number  of 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  England  organized  themselves 
privately,  without  reference  to  Bishops  or  other  authorities, 
into  a  kind  of  Presbyterial  consistory,  or  classical  court, 
for  the  management  of  the  Church-business  of  their  neigh- 
bourhood. The  heads  of  this  Presbyterian  movement,  which 
gradually  extended  itself  to  London,  were  Mr.  Field,  lecturer 
at  Wandsworth,  Mr.  Smith  of  Mitchain,  Mr.  Crane  of  Eoe- 
hampton,  Messrs.  Wilcox,  Standen,  Jackson,  Bonham,  Saintloe, 
Travers,  Charke,  Barber,  Gardiner,  Crook,  and  Egerton  ;  with 
whom  were  associated  a  good  many  laymen.  A  summary  of 
their  views  on  the  subject  of  Church  government  was  drawn 
out  in  Latin,  under  the  title  Disciplina  Ecclesice  Sacra  ex  Dei 
Verio  descripta,  and,  though  it  had  to  be  printed  at  Geneva, 
became  so  well  known  that,  according  to  Fuller,  "  secundum 
"  usum  Wandsworth  was  as  much  honoured  by  some  as 
"  secundum  usum  Sarum  by  others." 

The  English  Presbyterianism  thus  asserting  itself  and 
spreading  found  its  ablest  and  most  energetic  leader  in  the 
famous  Thomas  Cartwright  (1535-1603).  No  less  by  practical 
ingenuity  than  by  the  pen,  he  laboured  for  Presbytery ;  and 
under  his  direction  Prebyterianism  attained  such  dimensions 
that,  between  1580  and  1590,  there  were  no  fewer  than  500 
beneficed  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England,  most  of  them 
Cambridge  men,  all  pledged  to  general  agreement  in  a  revised 
form  of  the  Wandsworth  Directory  of  Discipline,  all  in  private 
intercommunication  among  themselves,  and  all  meeting 
occasionally,  or  at  appointed  times,  in  local  conferences,  or 
even  in  provincial  and  general  synods.  In  addition  to 
London,  the  parts  of  the  country  thus  most  leavened  with 
Presbyterianism  were  the  shires  of  Warwick,  Northampton, 
Rutland,  Leicester,  Cambridge,  and  Essex.  Of  course,  such  an 
anomaly,  of  a  Presbyterian  organization  of  ministers  existing 
within  the  body  of  the  Prelatic  system  established  by  law, 
and  to  the  detriment  or  disintegration  of  that  system,  could 
not  be  tolerated  ;  and,  when  Whitgift  had  procured  sufficient 
information  to  enable  him  to  seize  and  prosecute  the  chiefs, 


ENGLI>H    I'i;i:si;V!Kl;iANISM  :    1564—1643. 

it  was,  in  fact,  stamped  out.  But  the  recollection  of  Cart- 
wright  and  of  Presbyterian  principles  remained  in  the  Eng- 
lish mind  through  the  reigns  of  James  and  Charles,  and 
characterised  the  main  mass  of  the  more  effective  and  re- 
spectable Puritanism  of  those  reigns.  In  other  words,  most 
of  those  Puritans,  whether  ministers  or  of  the  laity,  who 
still  continued  members  of  the  Church,  only  protesting 
against  some  of  its  rules  and  ceremonies,  conjoined  with  this 
nonconformity  in  points  of  worship  a  dissatisfaction  with 
the  Prelatic  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  a  willingness  to 
see  the  order  of  Bishops  removed,  and  the  government  of  the 
Church  remodelled  on  the  Presbyterian  system  of  parochial 
courts,  classical  or  district  meetings,  provincial  synods,  and 
national  assemblies.  During  the  supremacy  of  Laud,  indeed, 
when  any  such  wholesale  revolution  seemed  hopeless,  it  is 
possible  that  English  Puritanism  within  the  Church  had 
abandoned  in  some  degree  its  dreamings  over  the  Presby- 
terian theory,  and  had  sunk,  through  exhaustion,  into  mere 
sidings  after  a  relaxation  of  the  established  Episcopacy.  But 
the  success  of  the  Presbyterian  Kevolt  of  the  Scots  in  1638, 
and  their  continued  triumph  in  the  two  following  years,  had 
worked  wonders.  All  the  remains  of  native  Presbyterian 
tradition  in  England  had  been  kindled  afresh,  and  new 
masses  of  English  Puritan  feeling,  till  then  acquiescent  in 
Episcopacy,  had  been  whirled  into  a  passion  for  Presbytery 
and  nothing  else.  When  the  Long  Parliament,  at  its  first 
meeting  (Nov.  1640),  addressed  itself  to  the  question  of  a 
Reform  of  the  English  Church,  the  force  that  beat  against 
its  doors  most  strongly  from  the  outside  world  of  English 
opinion  consisted,  as  we  have  seen,  no  longer  of  mere 
siblings  after  a  limitation  of  Episcopacy,  but  of  a  formed 
determination  of  myriads  to  have  done  with  Episcopacy 
root  and  branch,  and  to  see  a  Church  government  substituted 
somewhat  after  the  Scottish  pattern.  What  were  the  dimen- 
HMII-  of  this  n-vivcd  English  Pivsliyterianisin  at  that  date, 
both  among  the  clergy  and  among  the  laity,  we  have  ali<  idy 
tried  to  estimate  (ante,  pp.  199,  200). 

T\VM  vears  mi. re  of  di>rus>ion  in   and   out  of    Parliament 


534  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

had  vastly  enlarged  those  dimensions.  The  passion  for 
Presbytery  among  the  English  laity  had  pervaded  all  the 
counties ;  and  scores  and  hundreds  of  parish-ministers  who 
had  kept  as  long  as  they  could  within  the  limits  of  mere 
Low-Church  Anglicanism,  and  had  stood  out,  in  their  private 
reasonings,  for  the  lawfulness  and  expediency  of  an  order 
of  officers  in  the  Church  superior  to  that  of  simple  Pres- 
byters, if  less  lordly  than  the  Bishops,  had  been  swept  out 
of  their  scruples,  and  had  joined  themselves,  even  heartily, 
to  the  Presbyterian  current.  Thus,  when  the  Westminster 
Assembly  met  (July  1643),  to  consider,  among  other  things, 
what  form  of  Church  government  the  Parliament  should  be 
advised  to  establish  in  England  in  lieu  of  the  Episcopacy 
which  it  had  been  resolved  to  abolish,  the  injunction  almost 
universally  laid  upon  them  by  already-formed  opinion 
among  the  Parliamentarians  of  England,  whether  laity  or 
clergy,  out  of  the  Assembly,  seemed  to  be  that  they  should 
recommend  conformity  with  Scottish  Presbytery.  All  the 
citizenship,  all  the  respectability,  of  London,  for  example,  was 
resolutely  Presbyterian;  and  of  the  120  parish -ministers 
of  the  city,  surrounding  the  Assembly,  only  three,  so  far 
as  could  be  ascertained,  were  not  of  strict  Presbyterian 
principles.1 

ENGLISH    INDEPENDENCY  : 1.    BROWNISH    AND    THE    FIRST 

BROWNISTS    (1580 — 1592). 

Nevertheless,  amid  all  this  apparent  prevalence  of  Pres- 
byterianism,  there  was  a  stubborn  tradition  in  England  of 
another  set  of  Anti-Prelatic  views,  long  stigmatized  by  the 
nickname  of  BROWNISM,  but  known  latterly  as  INDEPEND- 
ENCY or  CONGREGATIONALISM. 

Independents  and  Presbyterians  are  quite  agreed  in  main- 
taining that  the  terms  '  Bishop/  or  Overseer,  and  '  Presbyter/ 
or  Elder,  were  synonymous  in  the  pure  or  primitive  Church, 
and  applied  indifferently  to  the  same  persons,  and  that  Prelacy 

1  Fuller's  Church  History  (edit.  1842).  295-6,  39]- 2.  and  422-3;  Hallam's 
II.  480-81,  505,  and  III.  105-121;  Const.  Hist  (10th edit.).  I.  207  ;  Baillie, 
Neal's  Puritans  (edit.  1793),  I.  265-6,  II.  192. 


KN'.LlsH  INDEPEM>KN<  V  :    BROWMSM. 

.UK!  all  its  developments  were  subsequent  corruptions.  The 
peculiar  tenet  of  Independency,  distinguishing  it  from  Presby- 
teriauism,  consists  in  something  else.  It  consists  in  the  belief 
that  the  only  organization  recognised  in  the  primitive  Church 

•hut  <>f  the  voluntary  association  of  believers  into  local 
congregations,  each  choosing  its  own  office  -bearers  and 
managing  its  own  affairs,  independently  of  neighbouring 
congregations,  though  willing  occasionally  to  hold  friendly 
conferences  with  such  neighbouring  congregations,  and  to 
profit  by  the  collective  advice.  Gradually,  it  is  asserted,  this 
right  or  hubit  of  occasional  friendly  conference  between 
neighbouring  congregations  had  been  mismanaged  and  abused, 
until  the  true  independency  of  each  voluntary  society  of 
Christians  was  forgotten,  and  authority  came  to  be  vested  in 
Synods  or  Councils  of  the  office-bearers  of  the  churches  of  a 
district  or  province.  This  usurpation  of  power  by  Synods  or 
Councils,  it  is  said,  was  as  much  a  corruption  of  the  primitive 
Church-discipline  as  was  Prelacy  itself,  or  the  usurpation  of 
power  by  eminent  individual  Presbyters,  assuming  the  name 
of  '  Bishops '  in  a  new  sense.  Nay,  the  one  usurpation  had 
prepared  the  way  for  the  other ;  and,  especially  after  the 
establishment  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire  by  the 
civil  power,  the  two  usurpations  had  gone  on  together,  until 
the  Church  became  a  vast  political  machinery  of  Councils, 
smaller  or  larger,  regulated  by  a  hierarchy  of  Bishops,  Arch- 
bishops, and  Patriarchs,  all  pointing  to  the  Popedom.  The 
error  of  the  Presbyterians,  it  is  maintained,  lies  in  their  not 

iving  this  natural  and  historical  connexion  of  the  two 
usurpations,  and  so  retaining  the  Synodical  tyranny  while 
they  would  throw  off  the  Prelatic.  Not  having  recovered  the 
true  original  idea  of  an  ecclesia  as  consisting  simply  of  a  society 
of  individual  Christians  meeting  together  periodically  and 
united  by  a  voluntary  compact,  while  the  great  invisible 
( 'liurch  of  a  nation  or  of  the  world  consists  of  the  whole 
multitude  of  such  mutually-independent  societies  harmo- 
niously moved  by  the  un- ••  -n  Spirit  present  in  all,  Presby- 
terians, it  is  Said,  substitute  th«-  more  mechanical  image  of  a 
visible  rullrrtivr.  Church  f<>r  each  community  or  nation,  try  to 


536  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

perfect  that  image  by  devices  borrowed  from  civil  polity,  and 
find  the  perfection  they  seek  in  a  system  of  National  Assem- 
blies, Provincial  Synods,  and  district  Courts  of  Presbyters, 
superintending  and  controlling  individual  congregations.  In- 
dependency, on  the  other  hand,  would  purify  the  aggregate 
Church  to  the  utmost,  by  throwing  off  the  Synodical  tyranny 
as  well  as  the  Prelatic,  and  restoring  the  complete  power  of 
discipline  to  each  particular  church  or  society  of  Christians 
formed  in  any  one  place. 

So,  I  believe,  though  with  varieties  of  expression,  English 
Independents  argue  now.  But,  while  they  thus  seek  the 
original  warrant  for  their  views  in  the  New  Testament  and  in 
the  practice  of  the  primitive  Church,  and  while  they  maintain 
also  that  the  essence  of  those  views  was  rightly  revived  in  old 
English  Wycliffism,  and  perhaps  in  some  of  the  speculations 
which  accompanied  Luther's  Reformation  on  the  Continent, 
they  admit  that  the  theory  of  Independency  had  to  be  worked 
out  afresh  by  a  new  process  of  the  English  mind  in  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries,  and  they  are  content,  I 
believe,  that  the  crude  immediate  beginning  of  that  process 
should  be  sought  in  the  opinions  propagated,  bet  ween  1580  and 
1590,  by  the  erratic  Robert  Brown,  a  Rutlandshire  man,  bred 
at  Cambridge,  who  had  become  a  preacher  at  Norwich.  Here 
and  there  in  England  by  his  tongue  during  those  ten  years, 
and  sometimes  by  pamphlets  in  exile,  Brown,  who  could  boast 
that  he  had  been  "  committed  to  thirty-two  prisons,  in  some 
of  which  he  could  not  see  his  hand  at  noon-day,"  and  who 
escaped  the  gallows  only  through  some  family  connexion 
he  had  with  the  all-powerful  Lord  Burleigh,  had  preached 
doctrines  far  more  violently  schismatic  than  those  of  Cart- 
wright  and  the  majority  of  the  Puritans.  His  attacks  on 
Bishops  and  Episcopacy  were  boundlessly  fierce  ;  and  the 
duty  of  separation  in  toto  from  the  Church  of  England,  the 
right  of  any  number  of  persons  to  form  themselves  into  a 
distinct  congregation,  the  mutual  independence  of  congre- 
gations so  formed,  and  the  liberty  of  any  member  of  a 
congregation  to  preach  or  exhort  in  it,  were  among  his 
leading  tenets.  At  length,  tiring  of  the  tempest  he  had 


iLISH  INDEPENDENCY  :    BROWNISM  537 

raised  around  him,  he  accepted  a  living  in  Northampton- 
shire ;  and,  though  he  is  not  known  to  have  ever  formally 
recanted  any  of  his  opinions,  he  lived  on  in  his  parsonage 
till  as  late  as  1630,  when  Fuller  knew  him  as  a  passionate 
and  rather  disreputable  old  man  of  eighty,  employing  a 
curate  to  do  his  work,  quarrelling  with  everybody,  and 
refusing  to  pay  his  rates.  Meanwhile  the  opinions  which 
ho  hud  propagated  fifty  years  before  had  passed  through  a 
singular  history  in  the  minds  and  lives  of  men  of  steadier 
and  more  persevering  character.  For,  though  Brown  himself 
had  vanished  from  public  view  since  1590,  the  Brownists,  or 
Separatists,  as  they  were  called,  had  persisted  in  their  course, 
through  execration  and  persecution,  as  a  sect  of  outlaws 
beyond  the  pale  of  ordinary  Puritanism,  and  with  whom 
moderate  Puritans  disowned  connexion  or  sympathy.  One 
hears  of  considerable  numbers  of  them  in  the  shires  of 
Norfolk  and  Essex,  and  throughout  Wales ;  and  there  was 
a  central  association  of  them  in  London,  holding  con- 
venticles in  the  fields,  or  shifting  from  meeting-house  to 
meeting-house  in  the  suburbs,  so  as  to  elude  Whitgift's 
ecclesiastical  police.  At  length,  in  1592,  the  police  broke 
in  upon  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  London  Brownists  at 
Islington;  fifty-six  of  these  were  thrown  into  divers  jails; 
and,  some  of  the  Separatist  leaders  having  been  otherwise 
arrested,  there  ensued  a  vengeance  far  more  ruthless  than 
tin-  ( iovernment  dared  against  Puritans  in  general.  Six  of 
the  leaders  were  brought  to  the  scaffold,  including  Henry 
Barrowe,  a  Gray's  Inn  lawyer  (of  such  note  among  those 
early  P»n»\vi lists  by  his  writings  that  they  were  also  called 
Barrowists),  John  Greenwood,  a  preacher,  and  the  poor 
young  Welshman,  John  iVnry,  whose  brave  and  simple 
words  on  his  own  hard  case,  addressed  before  his  death  to 
Lord  Burli'igh,  thrill  one's  nerves  yet.  All  these  were  of 
<  'ainhrid^e  training,  though  iVnry  had  also  been  at  Oxford. 
others  died  in  prison:  and  of  the  remainder  many  were 
l>.mi>ln •«!.  Amon--,'  the  observers  of  those  severities  was 
l-'niueis  Bacon,  then  rNni:  into  eminence  as  a  politician 
and  lawy.-i  II;-  feeling  00  tin-  -uhjeet  was  thus  expressed 


538  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

at  the  time :  "  As  for  those  which  we  call  Brownists,  being, 
"  when  they  were  at  the  most,  a  very  small  number  of  very 
"  silly  and  base  people,  here  and  there  in  corners  dispersed, 
"  they  are  now  (thanks  be  to  God)  by  the  good  remedies 
"  that  have  been  used  suppressed  and  worn  out,  so  as  there 
"  is  scarce  any  news  of  them."  Bacon,  doubtless,  here 
expressed  the  feeling  of  all  that  was  respectable  in  English 
society.  For  not  only  was  it  the  theory  of  Brownism 
intrinsically  that  the  Church  of  England  was  a  false 
Church,  an  institution  of  Antichrist,  from  which  all 
Christians  were  bound  to  separate  themselves ;  but  the 
scurrilities  against  the  Bishops  that  had  been  vented 
anonymously  by  some  particular  nest  of  Brown  ists,  or  their 
allies,  in  the  famous  series  of  Martin  Marprelate  Tracts 
(1589)  had  disgusted  and  enraged  many  who  would  have 
tolerated  moderate  Nonconformity.1 


ENGLISH    [NDEPENDENCY  : II.    THE    ENGLISH    SEPARATISTS    IN 

HOLLAND    (1592 — 1620). 

Bacon  was  in  error  in  supposing  that  Brownism  was 
extinguished.  Hospitable  Holland  received  and  sheltered 
what  England  cast  out.  Amsterdam  was  their  first  refuge. 
Thither,  between  1593  and  1608,  there  migrated  gradually 
a  little  colony  of  English  Brownists,  distinct  from  the 
resident  Church  of  England  men  and  the  Scottish  Presby- 
terians who  were  pretty  numerous  in  the  city.  They  were 
pious,  mutually  critical,  and  full  of  a  ferment  of  they  knew 
not  what.  History  has  preserved  the  names  of  only  the 
chiefs,  the  elected  pastors  and  teachers,  of  those  Brownist 
outcasts  in  Amsterdam ;  but  they  are  names  not  to  be 
forgotten. 

1  Fuller's  Church  History,  III.  62—  206  ;    Wilson's  History  of   Dissenting 

66;  Neal's  Puritans,  I.  328 — 333,  and  Churches  and  Meeting-houses  in  London 

468—486  ;  Hanbury's  Historical  Memo-  (1808),  I.  13—20  ;  Bacon's  Observations 

rials    relating    to    the    Independents,  on  a  Libel  (1592),  in  Bacon's  Letters 

Vol.   I.   (1839)  pp.  18—83  ;  Fletcher's  and  Life  by  Speddin^,  Vol.  I.  p.  165. 
History  of  Independency  (1847),  II.  97— 


IXDKI'KXDENCY:    THE  ANGLO-DUTCH  SEPARATISTS.       539 

Francis  Johnson,  who  had  been  pastor  of  the  suppressed 
London  congregation,  and  the  friend  of  Barrowe,  Greenwood, 
and  Penry,  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  Amsterdam  congrega- 
tion of  Brownists,  and  was  assisted  by  Henry  Ainswnrth, 
as  doctor  or  teacher.  Johnson  was  of  Cambridge  education, 
and  had  been  in  orders  in  the  Church  of  England.  Of 
Ainsworth's  antecedents  nothing  is  known  ;  which  is  the 
more  to  be  regretted  as  he  was,  by  universal  consent,  the 
most  profoundly  learned  of  all  the  Brownists,  and  a  man 
of  fine  character  and  zeal.  He  turns  up  in  Amsterdam  in 
1593, "  living  upon  ninepeuce  a  week  and  some  boiled  roots," 
but  recommending  himself  to  the  booksellers  and  printers 
by  his  knowledge  of  Hebrew.  Later  arrivals  in  Amsterdam 
than  he  and  Johnson  were  these  :  John  Smyth,  who  had  been 
a  clergyman  in  Lincolnshire  before  joining  the  Brownists ; 
Henry  Jacob,  of  Oxford  training,  who  had  been  a  clergyman 
in  Kent ;  Richard  Clifton,  formerly  rector  of  Babworth  in 
Nottinghamshire,  and  then  a  Separatist  preacher  at  Scrooby 
in  the  same  county ;  and  John  Robinson,  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  first  a  clergyman  in  Norwich,  and  then  Clifton's 
colleague  at  Scrooby.  .  Thus  in  1608  there  were  six  Separatist 
or  Brownist  ministers  altogether  in  Amsterdam. 

The  six  proved  too  many  for  one  town.  There  were  splits 
and  controversies  among  them  on  this  point  or  that,  Smyth 
in  particular  tending  to  Arminianism  and  Anabaptism. 
Hence  at  length  a  dispersion.  Ainsworth  persevered  in 
Amsterdam,  preaching,  publishing,  and  highly  respected,  till 
his  death  in  1622  ;  Clifton  also  remained  in  Amsterdam, 
where  he  died  in  1616  ;  Johnson,  after  remaining  for  some 
time  in  Amsterdam  in  opposition  to  Ainsworth,  removed  to 
Emden,  where  there  is  little  further  trace  of  him  or  his 
congregation;  Jacob  went  to  Middleburg;  and  Smyth  and 
Robinson  went  to  Leyden,  though  Smyth  retained  some 
hold  on  Amsterdam.  These  two  last  may  be  followed  a 
little  farther.  They  represented  between  them  the  split 
that  had  already  begun  to  declare  itself  among  the  English 
Brownists  in  Holland.—  The  essence  of  the  question 

seems  to  have  been  whether  that  original  tenet  of  Brown  ism 


540  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

should  be  retained  in  its  full  vehemence  which  denounced 
the  Church  of  England  as  an  utterly  false  and  abomin- 
able Church,  all  whose  ordinances  were  null  and  void.  It 
was  mainly  this  tenet  that  made  the  difference  between  the 
moderate  Puritans  or  Presbyterians  and  the  Brownists ;  and 
the  latter  were  called  Separatists  on  account  of  it.  Now, 
Smyth,  adhering  to  the  tenet,  had  pushed  it  to  a  logical 
consequence  not  ventured  on  by  the  Separatists  before  him. 
If  the  ordination  of  the  Church  of  England  were  rejected, 
so  that  her  ministers  had  to  be  reordained  when  they  became 
pastors  and  teachers  of  Separatist  congregations,  why  was 
the  baptism  of  the  Church  of  England  accounted  valid, 
why  were  not  members  of  that  Church  rebaptized  when 
they  became  Separatists  ?  Through  the  prosecution  of  this 
query,  aided  by  other  investigations,  Smyth  had  developed 
his  Separatism  into  the  form  known  as  Anabaptism,  not 
only  requiring  the  rebaptism  of  members  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but  rejecting  the  baptism  of  infants  altogether, 
and  insisting  on  immersion  as  the  proper  Scriptural  form 
of  the  rite.  "  The  Separation,"  he  wrote,  "  must  either  go 
"  back  to  England,  or  go  forward  to  true  Baptism :  all  that 
"  shall  in  time  to  come  separate  from  England  must  separate 
"  from  the  baptism  of  England  ;  and,  if  they  will  not  separate 
"  from  the  baptism  of  England,  there  is  no  reason  why  they 
"  should  separate  from  England  as  from  a  false  Church."  It 
was  even  said  that  Smyth,  to  make  sure  there  should  be  no 
flaw  in  his  own  baptism,  had  performed  the  rite  on  himself ; 
and  he  accordingly  figures  in  satires  of  the  time  as  "  Smyth,  the 
Se-baptist."  Certain  it  is  that  the  obscure  congregation  he 
formed  in  Ley  den,  or  shifted  between  Amsterdam  and  Ley  den, 
was  one  of  extreme  Separatists,  who  were  also  Baptists, 
and  with  peculiarities  besides  in  their  doctrines  and  wor- 
ship. Of  this  congregation  he  was  pastor  till  his  death  in 
1610,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  a  Thomas  Helwisse,  one 
of  their  oldest  members,  a  plain  man,  of  pragmatic  notions, 
and  quite  self-taught. —  —Meanwhile,  side  by  side  with 
Smyth,  and  in  constant  controversy  with  him  on  Baptism 
and  other  points  of  difference,  John  Eobinson  had  formed 


INDEPENDENCY:    THE  ANGLO-DUTCH  SEPARATISTS.       541 

in  I. «\. Icn  a  much  more  flourishing  congregation  on  broader 
principles.     Robinson's  place  in  the  history  of  Independency 
is,  indeed,  especially  important.      Though  he  seems  to  have 
been   a   rigid    Brownist  or  Barrowist  when    he  went   into 
exile,  a  natural  breadth  and  liberality  of  mind,  and  farther 
study  and  experience,  had  led  him  to  a  more  moderate  view 
of  the  duty  and  rights  of  Separation.      While  holding  that 
the  errors  and  defects  of  the  Church  of  England  and  of  the 
other  Reformed  Churches  were  so  serious  as  to  justify  and 
require  the  formation  of  separate  congregations,  he  would 
not  join  the  extreme  Separatists  in  denying  that  these  were 
true  Churches ;    on  the  contrary,  he  defended  and  practised 
Christian  intercourse  with  them  as  far  as  might  be.      "  For 
"  myself,"  he  wrote,  "  thus  I  believe  with  my  heart  before 
"  God,  and  profess  with  my  tongue  before  the  world  :  That  I 
"  have  one  and  the  same  faith,  hope,  spirit,  baptism,  and 
"  Lord,  which  I  had  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  none 
"  other ;  that  I  esteem  so  many  in  that  Church,  of  what 
"  state  and  order  soever,  as  are  truly  partakers  of  that  faith 
"  (as  I  account  many  thousands  to  be)  for  my  Christian 
"  brethren,  and  myself  a  fellow-member  with  them  of  that 
"  mystical  Body  of  Christ  scattered  far  and  wide  throughout 
"  the  world."     Hence  he  would  attend  Church  of  England 
places  of  worship,  if  no  other  were  at  hand,  with  the  fullest 
friendliness  and  affection,  and  he  would  admit  members  of 
that  Church  to  communion  in  prayer  and  hearing  the  Word, 
though  not  in  express  "Church-actions."     Henry  Jacob  had 
taken  a  similar  view  of   the  question  of  Separation  ;    but 
Robinson's  advocacy  was  so  much  more  public  that  it  was 
identified  with  him,  and  he  was  spoken  of  as  the  author 
of  a  theory  which  might  be  called  Semi-Separatism.     Then, 
•  MI  various  points,  he  helped  to  give  dignity  and  precision 
to  tin?  system  of  the  Separatist  Church-discipline,  till  then 
(ailed   Brownism.     That  name  he  abjured,  and  advised  all 
I  herents  to  abjure,  as  a  mere  term  of  obloquy,  tending 
to  conceal   the  claim  of   their  system   to  an  authority  in 
Scripture   and   in   the    history   of    the    Primitive    Church. 
He  argued  that  claim  afresh.     "  He  maintained  that  every 


542  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  church  or  society  of  Christians  had  complete  power  within 
"  itself  to  choose  its  own  officers,  to  administer  all  Gospel- 
"  ordinances,  and  to  exercise  all  acts  of  authority  and  dis- 
"  cipline  over  its  members ;  consequently  that  it  was  inde- 
"  pendent  upon  all  classes,  synods,  convocations,  and  councils. 
"  He  allowed,  indeed,  the  expediency  of  these  grave  as- 
"  semblies  for  reconciling  differences  among  churches,  and 
"  giving  their  friendly  advice,  but  not  for  the  exercise  of 
"  any  authority  without  the  free  consent  of  the  churches 
"  themselves."  In  a  still  more  intricate  question,  which 
had  arisen  among  the  Anglo-Dutch  Independents,  Eobinson 
had  assisted  to  a  decision.  Within  each  congregation  or 
society  of  Christians,  where  should  the  power  lie,  or  how 
should  it  be  distributed  ?  After  the  members  had  elected 
their  officers,  was  the  power  to  be  in  those  officers,  as 
the  congregational  eldership  or  presbytery,  or  was  the  voice 
of  the  whole  body  of  the  members  still,  in  the  last  resort,  to 
determine  all  matters  affecting  the  congregation,  including  the 
deposition  of  officers  ?  A  strife  having  occurred  on  this  vital 
question  in  the  Amsterdam  congregation,  Eobinson  from 
Leyden  had  suggested  a  practical  compromise,  but  still  on  the 
principle  that  the  power  in  each  congregation  belonged 
ultimately  to  the  whole  body  of  the  members.  In  this 
view  he  had  Ainsworth  with  him,  and  also  Jacob ;  and  it 
passed  as  an  accepted  article  into  the  creed  of  Independency. 
In  short,  so  active  was  Eobinson  in  writing  and  scheming 
as  well  as  in  preaching,  so  powerful  were  his  qualities  of 
head  and  heart,  and  so  strongly  did  he  impress  himself 
in  all  ways  upon  the  new  Church-discipline  forming  itself 
among  the  English  exiles  in  the  Dutch  towns,  that  he  is 
regarded  to  this  day  as  the  real  founder  of  modern  Inde- 
pendency, or  Congregationalism  proper.  He  died  at  Leyden, 
March  1,  1624-5,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  greatly  regretted 
not  only  by  his  own  people,  but  also  by  all  the  Dutch  of 
the  city.1 

1  Hanbury's  Memorials  of  Indepen-  Dissenting    Churches    of    London,    I. 

dents,     I.     83—389,     and     457—463;  18— 36 ;  Ivimey's  History  of  the  English 

Fletcher's  History  of  Independency,  II.  Baptists,  Vol.  I.  (1811)  pp.  113—122  ; 

207-291,    and    III.    1—26  ;    Wilson's  Neal's  Puritans,  II.  43-49. 


IN DEPENDENCY:   LONDON  SEPARATIST  CHURCHES.         543 


l.N<;i.ISH  INDKI'KNDENCY  : — III.   SEPARATIST   CONGREGATIONS   IN 
LONDON,  ETC.  (1610—1632). 

While  Holland  was  thus  sheltering  the  Separatists,  extend- 
ing to  them  the  same  hospitality  that  she  gave  to  the  Pres- 
byterian exiles  from  Scotland  and  England  who  also  lived 
in  her  towns,  and  nursing  their  principles  into  theory  and 
system,  and  affording  them  room  even  for  schisms  and  differ- 
ences among  themselves,  England  was  not  quite  rid  of  them. 
Through  the  reign  of  James  their  pamphlets  and  treatises 
were  imported  from  Holland,  and  kept  up  the  excitement 
about  what  was  still  called  Brownism.  Their  divisions  and 
controversies  among  themselves  were  heard  of  with  satisfaction 
by  orthodox  Church-of-England  men,  and  even  by  moderate 
Puritans,  as  proving  to  the  world  the  ruinous  tendency  of 
their  main  principle  of  Separation ;  and  Smyth's  lapse  into 
Anabaptism  and  other  heresies  was  dilated  on  half  with 
glee  and  half  with  horror.  Among  the  chief  denouncers  of 
the  Brownists  was  Bishop  Hall,  not  yet  Bishop,  but  only 
rector  of  a  parish  in  Essex.  His  Common  Apologie  of  the 
Church  of  England  against  the  Brownists,  published  in  1610, 
was  but  one  of  several  writings  of  his  on  this  subject.  In 
one  of  these,  addressing  Smyth  and  Kobinson  as  "  ringleaders 
of  the  late  Separation,"  he  bids  them  compare  the  England 
they  had  left  with  the  new  country  they  had  chosen.  "  Lo  ! 
there  a  common  harbour  of  all  opinions,  of  all  heresies  :  here 
"  you  drew  in  the  free  and  clear  air  of  the  Gospel,  without 
"  that  odious  composition  of  Judaism,  Arianism,  Anabaptum  : 
"  there  you  live  in  the  stench  of  these  and  more."  Nor  was 
tlii-  mere  fighting  with  windmills.  Although  the  more 
prominent  Separatists  had  been  driven  abroad,  wrecks  of  their 
l<'lln\vin<j  had  remained  in  England,  meeting  secretly  in 
conventicles  as  they  had  done  in  Elizabeth's  time,  and 
giving  trouble  to  Aivlil.islmp  Bancroft,  the  diocesans,  and  the 
civil  authorities.  At  length,  the  strict  Baiicp.lt  h;r 


544  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

succeeded  in  the  Primacy  by  the  comparatively  mild  Abbot 
(1611),  two  bands  of  the  exiled  Separatists  ventured  to  re- 
turn from  Holland  and  form  congregations  in  London.  First, 
in  or  about  1611,  there  came  over  the  broken  remains  of 
Smyth's  Leyden  or  Amsterdam  sect  of  extreme  Separatists 
or  Baptists,  led  by  their  new  pastor,  Thomas  Helwisse,  and 
by  an  assistant  of  his,  named  John  Murton.  Thus  was 
formed,  in  some  obscure  retreat  in  London,  the  exact  place 
not  ascertained,  if  indeed  there  was  any  fixed  place,  what 
is  now  regarded  as  the  first  society  of  General  Baptists 
in  England,  i.e.  of  those  Baptists  who  profess  a  theology 
rather  Arminian  than  Calvinistic.  About  five  years  later, 
or  in  1616,  Mr.  Henry  Jacob  returned  from  Middleburg 
with  some  of  his  friends,  and,  after  much  consultation, 
established  in  London  another  Congregationalist  church,  on 
the  milder  principles  of  Separatism  agreed  upon  between 
him  and  Eobinson.  This,  accordingly,  is  generally  spoken 
of  as  the  first  Independent  church  in  London,  though  Hel- 
wisse's  Baptist  church,  in  respect  of  its  discipline,  was  also 
on  the  Independent  principle.  Jacob  continued  to  be  pastor 
of  the  church  which  he  had  founded  till  1624,  when  he 
emigrated  to  America  at  the  age  of  over  sixty,  leaving  as 
his  successor  a  John  Lathorp,  a  Cambridge  man,  who  had 
renounced  orders  in  the  Church  of  England.  The  difficulties 
of  Lathorp  and  his  little  congregation  increased  after  Charles 
had  come  to  the  throne,  and  especially  after  Laud  had  become 
Bishop  of  London  (1628).  For  a  year  or  two  they  contrived, 
by  shifting  their  places  of  meeting,  to  avoid  detection ;  but 
at  length,  April  29, 1632,  they  were  pounced  upon  by  Laud's 
officers  in  a  house  in  Blackfriars,  and  forty-two  of  them, 
including  Lathorp,  were  thrown  into  prison.  Laud's  influence 
in  Church  and  State  being  supreme,  and  even  moderate  Puri- 
tanism or  Presbyterianism  being  under  ban,  it  seemed  a 
fortiori  as  if  Independency  or  Separatism  would  be  stamped 
out  in  England,  and  there  would  be  no  refuge  for  it  but  in 
Holland.1 

1  Hanbury's  Memorials,  I.  185  et  seq.  ;       don,  I.  30,  and  39,  40  ;  Ivimey's  Bap- 
Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches  in  Lon-       tists,  I.  122,  and  II.  503—506. 


NEW  ENGLAND  AND  ITS  CHURCH.  545 

KN'iLlsH   INI»KPKNI»KNCY: — IV.  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  EMIGRA- 
TION, AND  CHURCH  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  (1620— 1640). 

Not  so !  Populous  Holland,  with  its  towns  and  canals, 
was  still  at  hand ;  but  there  was  now  another  and  wider 
refuge  for  Separatists,  and  for  persecuted  opinions  of  all  sorts, 
in  the  world  beyond  the  Atlantic. 

"  Why  do  you  not  take  yourselves  off  to  Virginia  ? "  had 
been  the  taunt  to  the  more  troublesome  English  Puritans 
almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  James,  when  much 
of  the  coast-line  of  the  present  United  States  was  still 
vaguely  known  by  the  name  of  Virginia,  originally  given  to  it 
by  Raleigh.  Some  Puritans  had  actually  been  among  the  first 
settlers  in  this  Virginia  in  1608,  and  more  would  have  gone 
if  they  had  not  been  stopped  by  Bancroft.  Not  till  about 
1 6 1 7,  by  which  time  what  had  been  called  "  North  Virginia  " 
had  begun  to  acquire  the  special  name  of  NEW  ENGLAND,  does 
the  notion  of  a  colonization  of  those  parts  by  Puritans  in  the 
mass  appear  to  have  dawned  fully  on  any  mind.  It  dawned 
first  among  the  English  Independents  in  exile  in  Holland, 
and  chiefly  among  those  of  Robinson's  congregation  in  Leyden. 
Although  they  had  prospered  in  Holland,  or  at  least  managed 
to  live  there,  they  felt  it  "grievous  to  live  from  under  the 
protection  of  the  State  of  England  "  ;  they  could  not  bear  the 
thought  of  "losing  their  language  and  their  name  of  English  "; 
they  disliked  the  lax  ness  of  the  Dutch  in  the  matter  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  feared  for  the  morals  of  their  children  in  con- 
sequence ;  and  they  concluded  that, "  if  God  would  be  pleased 
to  discover  some  place  unto  them,  though  in  America,"  they 
mi^lit  by  going  thither  "more  glorify  God,  do  more  good  to 
"  their  country, better  provide  for  their  posterity,and  live  to  be 
"  more  refreshed  by  their  labours,  than  ever  they  could  do  in 
"  Holland,  where  they  were."  Accordingly,  after  a  year  or  two 
«•!  preparation,  and  negotiation  with  the  English  Govern  in  <  nt, 
there  was  founded  thu  famous  first  colony  of  New  England, 
known  as  The  Settlement  of  New  Plymouth  (1620).  The  original 
srttl<-rs  «'!'  this  colony,  the  first  Pilgrim  F;tth«T>  <>!'  America, 

VOL.  II  2  N 


546  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

were  an  express  detachment  of  Independents  from  Holland, 
with  others  from  England,  organized  by  Eobinson.  They 
were  sent  across  the  Atlantic,  as  we  have  seen  (Vol.  I.  pp. 
428-431),  with  his  blessing,  and  with  his  parting  instructions 
for  the  preservation  of  their  Independency.  He  would 
have  gone  with  them  himself,  but  for  fear  that  the  English 
Government  would  in  that  case  have  drawn  back  and  pre- 
vented the  emigration  at  the  last  moment.  It  was  his  inten- 
tion, however,  to  follow  when  he  could,  and  cast  in  his  lot 
with  the  infant  colony.  That  intention  never  took  effect,  for 
Eobinson  died  in  Holland  while  the  colony  was  still  struggling 
in  its  beginnings.  But  the  men  who  superintended  those 
beginnings  were  Eobinson's  emissaries,  and  imbued  with  his 
spirit ;  and,  when  the  news  of  his  death  reached  the  colony  in 
the  fifth  year  of  its  existence,  just  as  prosperity  was  beginning 
to  reward  the  hardships  and  toil  of  the  four  preceding  years, 
those  who  had  so  recently  parted  from  him  gathered  together 
in  their  rude  dwellings  to  speak  of  him,  and  there  was  sorrow 
that  the  one  man  of  all  the  world  to  whom  the  rising  society 
owed  its  origin,  and  whom  it  had  longed  most  to  welcome 
into  the  midst  of  it,  had  died  without  beholding  the  work 
of  his  hands.1  His  chief  substitute  in  the  colony,  and  long 
its  leading  teacher,  was  William  Brewster,  a  man  somewhat 
older  than  Eobinson,  originally  one  of  the  English  Separatists 
in  Nottinghamshire,  and  afterwards  a  venerated  elder  in 
Eobinson's  church  in  Leyden,  where  he  carried  on  also  the 
business  of  a  printer.  He  had  studied  at  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity, and  had  been  in  employment  about  the  English  court 
in  his  youth. 

From  the  landing  of  Eobinson's  first  little  company  of  1 0  2 
emigrants  from  Holland  and  England  on  the  American  coast 
(Nov.  1 6  2  0)  to  the  meeting  of  theXong  Parliament  (Nov.  1640) 
was  a  period  of  exactly  twenty  years.  During  those  twenty 
years,  and  especially  after  Laud's  ascendency  in  Church  and 
State  had  made  the  condition  of  the  Puritans  in  England 

1  Hanbury's  Memorials  of  Indepen-  England,  Vol.  I.  (1859)  pp.  145 — 172, 

dents,  I.  389—403  (where  there  is  a  list  and  pp.  224—5  ;  Fletcher's  Hist,  of  In- 

of     the    forty  -  one    first    adult    male  dependency,  III.  78,  79. 
colonists) ;  Palfrey's  History   of  New 


NEW  ENGLAND  AND  ITS  CHURCH.  547 

more  and  more  precarious,  the  emigration  had  gone  on  apace. 
Laud,  indeed,  did  all  he  could  to  frustrate  it,  and  to  keep  the 
Puritans  at  home  to  be  dealt  with,  just  as  he  tried,  through 
the  Dutch  Government,  to  reach  and  control  the  English 
Separatists  in  Holland.  Still,  year  after  year,  companies  of 
English  Puritans  contrived  to  ship  themselves  off  for  the 
New  World,  intermingled  with  detachments  of  the  residuary 
exiles  in  Holland,  who  had  learnt  to  think  of  America  as  a 
more  desirable  refuge.  In  a  satirical  ballad  of  the  year  1639 
the  advantages  of  New  England  are  thus  set  forth  by  an 
English  Puritan  supposed  to  be  addressing  his  neighbours  :— 

My  brethren  all,  attend  ye, 
And  list  to  my  relation ; 
This  is  the  day,  mark  what  I  say, 

Tends  to  your  renovation. 
Stay  not  among  the  wicked, 

Lest  that  here  with  them  you  perish ; 
But  let  us  to  New  England  go, 
And  the  Pagan  people  cherish. 

Then  for  Truth's  sake  come  along,  come  along  ; 
Leave  this  place  of  superstition  : 
Wer't  not  for  we  that  Brethren  be, 
You  would  sink  into  perdition. 

There  you  may  teach  our  hymns  too 

Without  the  law's  controlment ; 
We  need  not  fear  the  Bishops  there, 

Nor  spiritual  courts'  enrolment. 
The  surplice  shall  not  fright  us, 

Nay,  nor  superstition's  blindness ; 
Nor  scandals  rise  when  we  disguise, 

And  our  sisters  kiss  in  kindness. 

Then  for  Truth's  sake  come  along,  <fec. 

For  company  I  fear  not : 

There  goes  my  cousin  Hannah  ; 
And  Reuben  so  persuades  to  go 

My  cousin  Joyce,  Susanna, 
With  Abigail  and  Faithful ; 

And  Ruth  no  doubt  will  come  after  , 
And  Sarah  kind  won't  stay  behind, 

My  own  cousin  Constance'  daughter. 

Then  for  Truth's  sake  come  along,  (fee.1 

1  Quoted  in  Hanlmry's  Memorial*  Songs  relating  to  the  Into  time*:  By 
(II.  lljfroni  "The  Kump  ;  or,  an  Exact  the  most  emim-ut  NVit«,  from  anno  1689 
Collection  of  the  <  hoieoflt  Poems  and  to  anno  1661"  ;  puMinhod  1662. 


548  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

This  is  a  ribald  representation  of  what  was  a  most  serious 
and  momentous  fact.  In  the  twenty  years  under  notice,  it  is 
calculated,  about  300  ships,  carrying  4,000  families,  at  a  cost 
of  200,000/.,  had  gone  over  from  English  and  Dutch  ports,  so 
that  in  1640  the  total  immigrant  population  of  New  England 
consisted  of  21,000  or  22,000  persons.  By  that  time  this 
sturdy  little  population  had  spread  itself,  in  rough  towns 
and  villages,  mostly  with  names  taken  from  the  dear  English 
towns  at  home,  along  its  selected  portion  of  the  American 
coast,  seized  or  partly  bought  from  the  native  Indians.  It 
had  also,  in  some  consistency  with  the  charters  under  which 
it  had  come  out,  but  partly  also  on  the  spur  of  will  and 
convenience,  organized  itself  territorially  into  four  distinct 
bodies-politic  called  Colonies,  with  one  or  two  outlying  settle- 
ments, not  recognised  yet  as  Colonies,  but  called  only  Planta- 
tions. It  may  be  well  to  present  to  the  eye  a  kind  of  word- 
map  of  the  infant  New  England  that  had  thus  formed  itself, 
with  a  digest  of  historical  particulars  to  the  year  1640  :— 

THE    FOUR    COLONIES. 

I.  NEW  PLYMOUTH,  founded  1620. — This  colony,  schemed  by 
Robinson  of  Leyden,  and  founded  by  his  emissaries  and  their 
associates  from  England,  remained  of  small  dimensions.  Probably 
not  more  than  3,000  souls  out  of  the  total  of  22,000  in  New 
England  belonged  to  it,  aggregated  chiefly  in  the  original  town  of 
PLYMOUTH,  but  with  other  incipient  townships  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, such  as  Duxbury  and  Marshfield.  The  constitution  of  the 
colony  was  democratic  :  i.e.  the  ultimate  power  was  in  the  whole 
body  of  the  admitted  freemen  of  the  colony,  meeting  periodically 
and  determining  matters  by  a  majority  of  votes ;  the  right  to 
admit  new-comers  to  the  franchise,  however,  resting  with  those 
already  in  possession  of  it.  The  executive  was  in  the  hands  of  a 
Governor,  with  Assistants,  elected  annually  by  the  freemen.  The 
following  is  the  list  of  the  Governors  of  the  colony  from  its  com- 
mencement till  1640  : — John  Carver,  one  of  Robinson's  deacons 
at  Leyden  (1620—21);  William  Bradford,  also  one  of  Robinson's 
flock,  and  originally  from  Scrooby  in  Nottinghamshire  (1621 — 32) ; 
Edward  Winslow  (1633);  Thomas  Prince  (1634);  William  Brad- 
ford again  (1635) ;  Edward  Winslow  again  (1636) ;  William  Brad- 
ford again  (1637) ;  Thomas  Prince  again  (1638) ;  William  Bradford 
again  (1639 — 43).  The  governorship,  it  will  be  noted,  often  came 
back  to  the  same  hands,  and  Bradford's  tenures  of  it  were  long,  as 
well  as  frequent. 


XI :\V   ENGLAND  AND  ITS  CHURCH.  549 

1 1  MASSACHUSETTS,  or  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY,  founded  1629. — The 
original  founders  of  this  colony,  immediately  north  of  that  of  New 
Plymouth  (both  colonies  lying  within  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Massachusetts),  were  a  mixed  body  of  emigrants  from  England,  but 
chiefly  Puritans  of  the  moderate  or  Presbyterian  type,  as  distinct 
from  the  Separatists.  Mr.  John  White,  minister  of  Dorche>t«-r, 
known  among  the  Puritans  as  "  Patriarch  White,"  had  taken  much 
interest  in  the  foundation.  The  colony,  reinforced  by  fresh  arrivals, 
had  by  the  year  1640  much  outstripi>ed  that  of  New  Plymouth  in 
size,  and  may  have  included  as  many  as  14,000  souls  out  of  the  total 
<>t  ill', 000  constituting  New  England.  The  original  settlement  of 
the  colony  had  been  Salem  ;  but,  as  the  colonists  increased  and 
ranged  out  in  quest  of  sites,  some  score  of  other  townships  had  been 
formed,  including  Boston,  Cambridge,  Lynn,  Concord,  Ipswich, 
Watertoum,  Charlestoum,  llingham,  Dorchester,  and  Roxbury.  Of 
all  the  towns  of  the  colony  BOSTON  had  become  distinctly  the 
capital,  or  seat  of  government.  That  government  was  on  very 
much  the  same  popular  or  democratic  model  as  had  been  adopted 
in  New  Plymouth ;  with  this  important  difference,  that  in  Massa- 
chusetts Churofc-membership  was  a  condition  of  the  franchise.  The 
executive  was  in  the  hands  of  Governors,  Deputy-Governor*,  and 
Assistants,  elected  annually ;  and  the  following  is  the  series  of  the 
earliest  Governors :  — John  Winthrop  the  elder,  a  Suffolk  man 
of  old  family,  educated  at  Cambridge,  and  trained  for  the  law 
(1629—33);  Thomas  Dudley  (1634) ;  John  Haynes(  1635) ;  Henry 
Vane  the  younger  (1636);  John  Winthrop  again  (1637  —  39); 
Thomas  Dudley  again  (1640).  Winthrop  was  the  great  man  in 
the  formation  of  Massachusetts,  though  Vane's  brief  visit  to  the 
colony  and  his  year  of  governorship  are  worthy  of  recollection. 

III.  CONNECTICUT   RIVER. — This  colony,  considerably   to   the 
south  and  west  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Plymouth,  was  the  result 
of  a  movement  out  of  those  colonies,  in  search  of  richer  lands, 
which  had  begun  about  1635.     There  had  been  much  h'ghting  with 
the  Indians  in  establishing  the  new  colony  ;  and  it  had  attained  no 
great   dimensions   in    1640,    numbering   then    perhaps    less   than 
2,000  souls.      Saybrook,  at   the  mouth  of  the   Connecticut,  and 

•  rsfield,  lliii-tfnril,  and  Windsor,  higher  up  the  river,  were 
among  the  first  towns.  The  government  was  substantially  as  in 
Plymouth  and  Massachusetts,  but  without  the  Massachusetts  rule 
requiring  Church-membership  as  a  qualification  for  the  franchise. 
The  executive  consisted  of  Governors,  Dejwty-Governors,  and  .!/«////>- 

,  elected  annually.  The  first  Governor,  elected  in  1639,  was 
John  Haynes,  who  had  been  Governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1635; 
the  second,  elected  in  1640,  was  Edward  Hopkins 

IV.  Ni\\   II  \\t.\.     Tlii- num.  was  first  given  to  a  single  town  ni 
settlement  founded,  in  1638,  at  what   had   till   then   Keen  called 
(^uinnipiack,  on  a  fine  harbour  in  Long-Island  Sound,  thirty  mil<  s 
west  of  Conin  iver,  and   verging  on  what  wnv  then  the 
Dutch  possessions  in  America.     The  found  a  small  society 


550  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  persons,  mostly  traders  from  London,  and  of  some  means,  who 
had  not  found  things  quite  to  their  mind  in  Massachusetts,  and 
wanted  to  try  a  polity  on  the  strictest  Scripture  principles.  Others 
and  others  of  similar  views  following  pretty  fast  to  the  same  part  of 
the  coast  (now  included  in  the  State  of  Connecticut),  Milford,  Guil- 
ford,  Greenwich,  and  Southhold  in  Long  Island,  were  founded,  in 
addition  to  New  Haven.  These  townships,  numbering  perhaps  less 
than  2,000  souls  in  all  in  1640,  were  for  the  present  distinct,  each 
as  a  little  autonomy  of  freemen  duly  qualified  by  Church- member- 
ship;  and  it  was  not  till  1643  that  they  came  definitely  together 
under  the  general  name  of  NEW  HAVEN,  with  Theophilus  Eaton 
for  the  first  Governor.  Practically,  however,  the  colony  existed 
in  1640. 

OUTLYING    PLANTATIONS. 

Not  strictly  within  the  bounds  of  any  of  the  four  colonies,  but 
distinctly  within  the  bounds  of  New  England,  there  w^re  at  least 
two  patches  or  stragglings  of  English  population  : — (1)  Providence 
and  Rhode  Island.  These  were  clusters  of  familits,  of  peculiarly 
Separatist  opinions,  who,  finding  themselves  uncomfortable,  and  in 
fact  under  a  ban,  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Plymouth,  had 
migrated  into  the  country  of  the  Narraganset  Indians,  then  lying 
like  a  wedge  between  New  Plymouth  and  Connecticut,  and  now 
forming  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.  Providence  was  the  name  of  a 
tiny  settlement  so  formed  on  the  mainland  at  the  head  of  Narra- 
ganset Bay  in  1636  ;  and  the  similar  settlements  of  Portsmouth  and 
Newport  on  the  adjacent  island  of  Rhodes,  then  called  Aquetnet, 
date  from  1638  and  1639.  These  settlements  were  of  a  strictly 
democratic  type,  but  without  the  connexion  of  the  franchise  with 
Church -membership.  (2)  To  the  vague  north  and  north-east  of 
Massachusetts,  in  the  country  now  forming  the  States  of  New 
Hampshire  and  Maine,  were  similar  stragglers.  Dover,  dating  from 
as  early  as  1631,  received  subsequent  increase  ;  and  fixeter  was 
founded  by  a  few  families  from  Boston  in  1639.  Massachusetts 
claimed  the  lands  where  those  plantations  stood,  but  they  were 
virtually  independent.1 

Such  was  infant  NEW  ENGLAND,  separated  by  the  Dutch 
settlements  of  New  Netherlands  from  the  older  and  more 
southern  division  of  England's  American  possessions  known 
as  VIRGINIA.  Now,  not  the  least  distinction  of  this  NEW 

1  My  chief  authority  for  the  facts  I  map;  and  there  is  a  map,  suiting  a 

have  condensed  in  this  account  of  New  rather  later  date,  in  Cotton  Mather's 

England  as  far  as  1640  is  Mr.  Palfrey's  "  Magnalia  Christi  Americana  :  or,  Ec- 

History    of    New    England  :    Vol.    I.  clesiastical   History   of   New   England 

throughout,  with  tables  at  the  end  ;  and  from  1620  to  1698  "  (folio,  1702). 
Vol.  II.  pp.   1  —  34.     Palfrey  gives  a 


NEW  ENGLAND  CONGREGATIONALISM.  551 

ENGLAND  from  VIRGINIA,  from  the  mother-country  which 
had  given  birth  to  both,  and  from  all  other  lands  then 
known  in  the  world,  lay  in  the  peculiar  Church-organization 
which  it  had  universally  adopted.  That  organization  was 
not  Prelatic,  was  not  Presbyterian,  but  was  according  to  the 
system  of  Independency  or  Congregationalism,  as  it  had  been 
imaged  forth  by  the  early  Separatists  of  England,  and  after- 
wards matured  by  the  English  Separatists  in  Holland,  and 
especially  by  Robinson  of  Leyden.  As  this  fact  was  to  be  of 
great  consequence,  not  only  in  the  history  of  English  America, 
but  also  in  the  history  of  England  herself,  it  deserves  farther 
elucidation. 

New  Plymouth,  the  first  of  the  English  colonies,  had  been 
a  foundation  expressly  in  the  interests  of  Independency,  and 
mainly  of  the  Robinsonian  Independency.  The  venerable 
William  Brewster,  Robinson's  substitute  as  the  spiritual 
leader  of  the  colony,  lived  on  in  Plymouth  to  1643,  as 
"  Ruling  Elder  "  of  the  church  there,  performing  for  some  time 
by  himself  all  the  duties  of  the  ministry,  except  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments  (which,  Robinson  wrote  to  him, 
would  not  be  lawful  or  expedient  for  one  who  was  but  a 
"  Ruling  Elder,"  and  not  regularly  ordained  for  the  ministry), 
but  latterly  having  associated  with  him,  in  the  nominally 
higher  office  of  "  pastor,"  a  succession  of  persons  who  had 
been  bred  for  that  office  in  one  or  other  of  the  English 
Universities.  In  that  colony,  therefore,  Congregationalist 
arrangements  prevailed  from  the  first.  In  the  second,  or 
Massachusetts,  colony,  which  did  not  consist  so  avowedly  of 
Independents  at  the  outset,  but  rather  of  mixed  emigrants 
from  England,  among  whom  were  not  a  few  Puritans  of 
Presbyterian  prepossessions,  the  same  prevalence  of  Inde- 
pendency might  not  have  been  looked  for;  and,  in  fact, 
Messrs.  Skelton  and  Higginson,  two  silenced  Church  of 
Kirjlanil  ministers,  both  of  Cambridge  education,  who  came 
out  as  first  pastors  of  the  colony,  were  understood  to  be 
•yterians  when  they  arrivrd.  Whether,  however,  n»ni 
tin-  .  tl.  <  t  of  the  example  and  contact  of  New  Plymouth,  or 
tin-  ii it -ii;  effect  of  tin-  iii-w  i-mnlitions  of  self-government 


552 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


in  knots  and  townships  in  which  the  colonists  found  them- 
selves, and  which  Congregationalism  in  Church  matters  seemed 
to  suit,  the  Church-discipline  in  this  colony  too  became  at 
once,  and  without  outcry  or  opposition,  substantially  Con- 
gregationalist.  And  so,  by  extension,  in  Connecticut,  New 
Haven,  and  the  outlying  Plantations ;  which  were  all  in  the 
main  offshoots  from  Massachusetts  and  New  Plymouth. 
Hence  over  all  New  England  the  phenomenon  of  Church 
Independency,  with  only  such  variations  in  detail  as  Church 
Independency  might  occasion : — The  population  consisted, 
ecclesiastically,  of  an  aggregate  of  Christian  societies  or  con- 
gregations, larger  or  smaller,  each  perfectly  distinct  within 
itself,  each  bound  by  its  own  covenant  of  doctrinal  and  moral 
agreement  among  all  admitted  into  it,  each  meeting  on  Sun- 
days and  other  days  for  worship  and  the  sacraments,  each 
electing  its  own  officers,  and  each  managing  its  own  affairs, 
including  the  censure  or  excommunication  of  erring  members, 
through  those  officers,  or,  on  occasion,  by  the  votes  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  male  communicants.  The  place  of  wor- 
ship for  the  congregation  of  each  town  was  the  meeting- 
house of  that  town  ;  which  was  also  used  for  assemblies  of  the 
citizens  for  all  kinds  of  public  business.  In  fully-furnished 
congregations  the  officers  consisted  of  the  Pastor,  or  general 
minister,  the  Teacher,  or  Scripture  expositor,  Ruling  Elders, 
associated  with  those  two  in  the  exercise  of  discipline,  and 
Deacons,  intrusted  with  money-matters  and  the  relief  of  the 
poor.1  It  was  always  understood  that  the  existence  of  these 

1  The  clearest  definition  I  have  found  of  the  bodies  of  the  members  : — "1.  In 
of  the  nature  and  reason  of  these  offices, 
as  conceived  by  the  early  Independ- 
ents, is  in  the  Appendix  to  Eobinson's 
Apology,  or  Explanation  of  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Independency,  first  printed  in 
1625.  There,  after  defining  a  Church 
to  be  "a  company  of  faithful  and  holy 
''people,  with  their  seed,  called  by  the 

'Word   of  God  into  public  covenant 

'  with  Christ  and  amongst  themselves 

'  for  mutual  fellowship  in  the  use  of  all 

'the  means  of  God's  glory  and  their 

'salvation,"  he  proceeds  to  show  that 
five  offices  are  necessary  and  sufficient 
in  every  such  Church,  arising  from  the 
conditions  partly  of  the  souls  and  partly 


"the  soul  is  the  faculty  of  under- 
Standing;  about  which  the  Teacher 
"is  to  be  exercised  for  a  confirmation 
"of  doctrine.— 2.  The  Will  and  Affec- 
"  tions,  upon  which  the  Pastor  is 
' '  especially  to  work  by  exhortation 
"and  comfort. — 3.  For  that  doctrine 
"and  exhortation  without  obedience 
"are  unprofitable,  the  diligence  of  the 
"Ruling  Elder  is  requisite  for  that 
"purpose. — 4.  And,  as  the  Church  con- 
' '  sisteth  of  men,  and  they  of  souls  and 
' '  bodies,  so  are  the  Deacons  out  of  the 
"  Church's  treasure  and  contributions 
"  to  provide  for  the  common  uses  of  the 
"Church,  relief  of  the  poor,  and  main- 


NEW  ENGLAND  CONGREGATIONALISM.        553 

officers  did  not  take  away  from  other  members  of  the  congre- 
gation the  right  of  occasionally  "  prophesying,"  or  publicly 
exhorting  in  its  meetings.  In  the  names  and  distribution 
<>f  the  officers,  too,  there  was  not  strict  uniformity,  and  the 
tendency  on  the  whole  was  to  simplification  into  the  three 
orders  of  Minister  or  Teaching  Elder,  Ruling  Elders,  and 
Deacons.  The  essential  peculiarity  was  that  the  officers 
were  officers  only  in  the  congregations  that-  had  elected 
them,  and  so  long  as  they  were  retained  by  these.  Nor  had 
contiguous  congregations  any  authority  over  each  other.  A 
member  of  one  congregation,  whether  minister  or  not,  might 
"  prophesy  "  in  another,  if  invited  ;  and  naturally  this  privi- 
lege was  exercised  by  ministers  when  away  from  their  own 
churches.  There  might,  also,  be  meetings  of  the  officers  or 
members  of  contiguous  congregations,  or  the  congregations 
of  a  whole  district,  for  mutual  consultation  and  advice ;  and 
a  congregation,  seeing  a  neighbour  congregation  going  wrong, 
might  remonstrate  to  that  effect,  and  even  publicly  disown 
fellowship  with  the  offending  church.  There  was  a  haziness 
or  variety  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  extent  in  the  system  of 
Independency  of  this  practice  of  conferences  or  councils  among 
neighbour  churches,  some  assigning  a  value  to  it  which  others 
thought  a  dangerous  concession  towards  Presbyterianism. 
In  one  point  this  haziness  between  extreme  Separatism  and 
semi-Separatism  might  occasion  practical  difficulty.  When 
;i  minister  was  elected  by  a  particular  congregation,  was  his 
ordination  to  be  by  that  congregation  within  itself,  or 
was  he  to  be  ordained  by  some  ministers  of  neighbouring 
churches  ?  On  the  one  hand,  the  rule  of  the  ordination  of 
the  minister  of  one  church  by  neighbouring  ministers  ini^ht 
savour  somewhat  of  the  notion,  repudiated  by  Independency, 
that  the  ministry  was  a  sacred  caste  among  men,  transmitting 
its  own  virtue  by  its  own  inherent  powers.  On  the  other, 
there  were  reasons  of  decorum  and  amity  for  the  co-operation  of 

"tonance  of  officer*.— 5.   As  are  the  bury,  1. 889:  Note.)   This  Fifth  Church 

afford  unto  the  sick  and  office,  that  of  Widow  to  act  an  nurses, 

••  itiijM.u-nt  in  I....1                       therwiso  seems  soon  to  have  vanished  from  the 

"to  help  themselves,  their  cheerful  and  formal  or  theoretical  scheme, 

•rtaJ-li-  -c-r\ .                                  ;.  i,,,t  fr..in  <  'hun-h  j-ra 


554  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTOKY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

ministers  conveniently  near  in  the  welcome  and  consecration 
of  the  minister  whom  any  congregation  had  just  elected.  In 
practice  the  former  consideration,  retaining  the  act  of  ordina- 
tion within  each  church,  seems  to  have  prevailed  in  New 
England,  for  a  time  at  least.  Thus,  at  the  formation  of  the 
first  Massachusetts  church,  that  of  Salem  (July  1629),  when 
Mr.  Skelton  had  been  duly  elected  "  pastor  "  and  Mr.  Higgin- 
son  "  teacher,"  they  were,  though  already  ordained  ministers 
of  the  Church  of  England,  re-ordained  specially  for  their 
new  offices ;  some  three  or  four  of  the  gravest  members  of 
the  church  first  laying  their  hands  on  Skelton's  head  and 
praying,  and  then  Skelton  doing  the  same  for  Higginson. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  why  was  not  the  venerable  Brewster 
of  New  Plymouth  promoted  by  his  own  congregation  from 
the  "  ruling  eldership, "  which  made  him  practically  their 
sole  minister  for  some  time,  to  the  full  "  pastorate  "  which 
would  have  perfected  his  services  ?  Information  is  deficient ; 
and  probably  New  England  Independency  was  gradually 
clearing  its  own  mind  on  such  minutiae  of  its  system.  One 
can  imagine,  however,  that,  as  ministers  multiplied  in  the 
colonies,  the  tendency  to  co-operation  among  them  would 
naturally  show  itself,  and  that  consequently  Independency 
would  develop  more  and  more  the  tenet,  always  reserved  for 
it  by  Eobinson,  that  there  might  be  a  useful  and  even  wide 
co-ordination  of  the  churches  on  the  principle  of  mutual 
advice,  consultation,  and  criticism,  though  not  of  compulsion 
or  synodical  jurisdiction.1 

As  many  as  about  eighty  ministers,  almost  all  of  whom 
had  been  divines  in  the  Church  of  England,  whether  as 
parish-ministers  or  lecturers,  are  known  to  have  been  in  New 
England  in  1640,  distributed,  as  "pastors"  or  "  teachers," 
among  the  churches  of  the  several  colonies.2  This  gives 
about  one  minister  to  every  280  souls  of  the  population ;  so 
that,  even  if  we  suppose  each  congregation  to  have  had  both 
a  "  pastor  "  and  a  "  teacher,"  many  of  the  congregations  must 

1  Palfrey's  History  of  New  England,  seventy-seven  of  the  original  ministers 
II.  36—44,  and  I.  231  and  295.  of  New  England,  with  the  towns  where 

2  Cotton   Mather,   in  his  Magnolia  they  severally  settled  and  laboured. 
(Book  III.  Part  1),  gives  the  names  of 


KMINENT  NEW  ENGLAND  MINISTERS.  555 

have  been  very  small.  The  following,  arranged  alphabetically, 
are  a  few  of  the  ministers  chiefly  deserving  notice,  in  addition 
to  those  already  mentioned  :— 

PETER  BULKLEY,  B.D.  of  Cambridge,  and  formerly  Fellow  of  St. 
John's  in  that  University ;  then  minister  of  a  parish  in  his  native 
Bedfordshire.  After  twenty  years  of  incumbency  in  this  parish, 
where  Bishop  Williams  connived  at  his  nonconformity,  Laud's  vigi- 
lance obliged  him  to  emigrate  in  1635,  a-tat.  53.  He  became 
minister  of  Concord  in  Massachusetts,  and  lived  till  1658-9.  A 
book  of  his,  called  The  Gospel  Covenant,  was  one  of  the  first 
specimens  of  New  England  authorship.1 

CHARLES  CHAUNCEY,  B.D.  of  Cambridge,  and  some  time  lecturer 
in  that  University  in  Greek  and  Hebrew ;  afterwards  minister  of 
Ware  in  his  native  county  of  Herts.  Having  suffered  much  for 
nonconformity  at  home,  he  emigrated  in  1638,  when  he  was  about 
forty-eight  years  of  age ;  became  minister  to  the  New  Plymouth 
Church,  in  association  with  Brewster  ;  but,  after  a  year  or  two,  went 
to  Massachusetts.  He  lived  to  1671,  attaining  higher  distinction 
in  that  colony.2 

JOHN  COTTON,  B.D.  of  Cambridge,  formerly  Fellow  of  Emanuel 
College  there  ;  afterwards,  as  minister  of  Boston,  Lincolnshire,  a  great 
man  among  the  English  Nonconformists,  and  much  persecuted  by 
Laud.  In  1633  he  escaped  with  difficulty  to  New  England,  aged 
forty-eight ;  writing  (or  surely  it  was  some  parishioner  who  wrote 
it  for  him  !)  a  copy  of  verses  on  the  occasion,  of  which  this  is  a 
specimen  :— 

"  When  I  think  of  the  sweet  and  gracious  company 

That  at  Boston  once  I  had, 
And  of  the  long  peace  of  a  fruitful  ministry 

For  twenty  years  enjoyed, 
The  joy  that  I  found  in  all  that  happiness 

Doth  still  so  much  refresh  me 
That  the  grief  to  be  cast  out  into  a  wilderness 

Doth  not  so  much  distress  me." 

He  found,  however,  a  new  Boston  in  the  wilderness,— the  since 
famous  BOSTON  of  the  United  States.  Becoming  minister  there, 
li.  lived  on  till  1652,  so  active,  and  (his  poetry  discounted)  so 
al.lt-,  n  man  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony  that  he  figures  in  old 
;is  the  "father  and  glory  of  Boston."  He  did  murh. 
indeed,  to  >l»;ipe  and  modify  the  Independency  of  New  En 
generally  by  gi\in^  prominence  to  the  Robinsonian  proviso  that 

»  Neal'«  Puritan*,  II.  W4  :  htlfroy.  thor'a  Ma^nlia.  Book  III.  Part  2. 
I.  484  :  Cott-.n  \\\\.  .  Palfrey,  I.  M5-«,  and 

li.n.k  111.  I  II.  m.  Not*. 

»  NeaT  «  Puritans,  ti.  315,  316 ;  Ma- 


556    .          LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

there  might  be  associations  of  churches  for  consultation  and  the 
like.  Some  thought  he  pushed  this  proviso  to  a  kind  of  practical 
semi-Presbyterianism,  and  that  he  was  led  in  that  direction  by  his 
personal  talent  for  negotiation,  which  needed  a  pretty  wide  circle. 
Cotton  was  a  Derbyshire  man  by  birth,  stoutish,  and  of  ruddy-fair 
complexion.  His  writings  were  rather  numerous.1 

JOHN  DAVENPOET,  B.D.  of  Oxford;  formerly  minister  of  St. 
Stephen's,  Coleman  Street,  London;  then,  between  1633  and  1637, 
a  refugee  in  Amsterdam,  and  preacher  there.  While  in  Amsterdam, 
he  became  conspicuous  as  an  advocate  of  Independency,  and  had  a 
controversy  on  the  subject,  both  socially  and  in  print,  with  John 
Paget,  M.A.,  who  had  been  minister  of  the  English  Presbyterian 
church  of  that  city  from  1607,  and  had  been  a  zealous  champion  of 
Presbytery,  and  defender  of  the  Presbyterianism  of  his  flock,  against 
the  previous  Anglo-Dutch  Separatists,  including  Johnson,  Ainsworth, 
Jacob,  and  Robinson.  Thus,  when  Davenport  emigrated  to  New 
England  in  1637,  cetat.  40,  he  had  been  preceded  by  a  considerable 
reputation.  He  became  minister  in  New  Haven,  and  lived  till  1670.2 

JOHN  ELIOT,  B.A.  of  Cambridge  ;  afterwards  assistant  in  a  school 
at  Chelmsford  in  Essex.  He  went  out  to  Massachusetts  in  1631, 
in  his  twenty-eighth  year ;  preached  for  some  time  in  Boston ;  but 
in  1632  became  minister  of  Roxbury  in  the  same  neighbourhood. 
It  was  while  he  was  in  this  charge  that  he  began  his  study  of  the 
languages  of  the  native  Indians,  and  so  qualified  himself  for  that 
Apostleskip  among  the  Indians  to  which  he  dedicated  himself  in 
1646,  and  by  his  labours  in  which  all  the  rest  of  his  life,  including 
his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Indian,  he  is  best  remembered. 
The  conversion  of  the  Indians  was  one  of  the  avowed  objects  of  the 
first  emigrants  to  New  England,  and  Eliot  had  associates  in  the 
work  ;  but  no  one  came  up  to  him.  "  There  was  no  man  on  earth 
whom  I  honoured  above  him,"  wrote  Baxter.  He  died  in  1690,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-six,  having  resigned  his  pastoral  charge  at  Roxbury 
only  two  years  before.3 

THOMAS  HOOKER  :  a  Leicestershire  man,  once  Fellow  of  Emanuel 
College,  Cambridge ;  then  Nonconformist  preacher  at  Chelmsford, 
Essex  (where  Eliot  was  his  assistant) ;  next  an  exile  in  Holland ; 
then  again  in  England  under  hiding.  He  came  to  New  England  in 
1633,  cetat.  47,  in  the  same  ship  with  Cotton ;  was  chosen  pastor  of 
Newtown  (afterwards  called  Cambridge)  in  Massachusetts ;  but 
removed  in  1636  to  Connecticut,  where  he  became  minister  of  Hart- 
ford. After  having  exerted  an  influence  in  the  Church  of  New 

i  Neal's  Puritans,  II.  253  ;  Palfrey,  2  Neal,  II.  253—4  ;  Palfrey,  I.  528— 

I.  367—9,  and  II.  409—11 ;  a  memoir  543  ;   Hanbury,   I.  324  et  seq.  and  526 

entitled  Gottoniis  Redivivus  in  Mather's  et  sea. 

Magnolia,  Book  III.  Part  1,  Chap.  I.  ;  3  leather's     Magnolia,     Book     III. 

also  a  Life  of  Cotton  in  Clarke's  Mar-  Part  3  ;  Palfrey,   I.  357,  and  II.   189 

tyrologie  (1677),  where  other  specimens  et  seq.     But  there  are  express  Lives  of 

of  his  poetry,  or  "Divine  Soliloquies,"  Eliot,  and  Articles  on  him  in  our  Bio- 

as  Clarke  calls  them,  will  be  found.  graphical  Dictionaries. 


KMINKNT  N1.W  ENGLAND  MINISTERS.  557 

England  hardly  inferior  to  Cotton's,  he  died  in  1647,  much  re- 
gretted. Cotton,  who  had  had  differences  with  him,  wrote  an  elegy 
in  which  he  described  him  as  equal  to  Farul,  Viret,  and  Calvin,  the 
three  Genevan  worthies,  all  in  one, 

%>  A  son  of  thunder,  and  a  shower  of  rain, 
A  pourer  forth  of  lively  oracles, 
In  saving  souls  the  sum  of  miracles." l 

HANSERD  KNOLLYS  :  born  in  Lincolnshire  1598;  educated  at 
Cambridge  ;  master  for  a  time  of  the  Free  School  of  Gainsborough 
in  his  native  county  ;  then  in  1629  parish-minister  of  Humberstone, 
Leicestershire,  by  presentation  of  Bishop  Williams.  He  resigned  his 
living  from  scruples  after  a  year  or  two  ;  preached  about  the  country  ; 
became  a  decided  Separatist  in  1636 ;  and  was  driven  to  New  England 
for  refuge  in  1638.  He  went  first  to  Boston,  but,  being  complained 
of  there  as  an  Antinomian,  accepted  a  call  to  be  a  preacher  to  the 
plantation  on  the  northern  fringe  of  Massachusetts.  Still  his 
extreme  Separatism  and  his  heterodoxy  on  Baptism  and  other 
points  roused  clamours  against  him,  and  indeed  exposed  him  to 
danger.  He  returned  to  England  in  1641,  to  lead  a  career  of  the 
most  unflinching  resolution  and  the  most  varied  fortunes,  which 
did  not  end  till  1690,  when  he  was  ninety-two  years  of  age.  He 
is  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  English  Baptist  denomination  ;  insomuch 
that  special  memoirs  of  him,  with  portraits,  appear  in  their  Histories, 
and  there  was  recently  a  II«n*erd  Knotty*  Society  for  the  republica- 
tion  of  scarce  old  I'.apti-t  tracts.  We  shall  meet  him  again  in 
England. 

RICHARD  M  \TIII:U:  a  Lancashire  man,  born  1596  ;  educated  at 
Brasenose,  Oxford ;  had  been  preacher  at  Toxteth,  near  Liverpool, 
and  twice  suspended  for  nonconformity.  He  arrived  in  New  Eng- 
land with  his  family  in  Hi.T»,  and  became  minister  at  Dorchester, 
Massachusetts.  He  lived  there  till  1669,  and  at  his  death  left  four 
sons  in  the  ministry;  one  of  whom,  Increase  Mather,  tnarri«l  a 
dauphin-  of  Mr.  <  'utton  of  Boston,  and  became  the  father  of  Cotton 
.Math-r. 

JOHN  NORTON,  B.A.  of  Cambridge;  once  curate  of  a  parish  in 
Herts.  He  went  to  New  England  in  1635,  <etat.  29  ;  was  for  a  few 
months  Brewster's  associate  in  tin-  church  of  Plymouth  ;  removed 
t<>  li-uirh  in  Massachusetts;  was  accounted,  after  Cotton, 
ili--  mo.st  riuiiM-nt  <li\in.  in  that  colony  ;  succeeded  Cotton  in  1656 
as  Teacher  in  tin  « -him -h  of  p,o,fn  ;  and  died  1663.  The  New 
Englanders  anagram  ma  ti/*.  I  his  name  Johannt*  Nortonu*  into 

i  Neatti  Purifc.:  I \ilfr. -v.        Umlon,  II.  562—571  ;  Palfrey,  I.  519, 

I.  444—455,  and  II.  264,  with  Note ;       520,  and  589-591. 
Mather't  Maynalia,  ft  rt  1,          »  Wood'*    Athene,    III.   882-836; 

Cotton   Mather'*  MtiffnaKa,  Book  III. 

*  WUaon's    Dissenting   Churchea  of       Part  2,  Chap.  \.\. 


558  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Nonne  is  honoratus  ?  and  proposed  for  his  epitaph  his  mere  name, 
with  this  legend  underneath  it : — 

"  Quis  fuerit  ultra  si  quaBras, 
Dignus  es  qui  nescias."  l 

RALPH  PARTRIDGE,  probably  a  Cambridge  man  and  silenced 
minister  at  home,  was  minister  at  Duxbury  in  the  New  Plymouth 
colony,  and  lived  there  till  1658.  "He  must  be  regarded  as  the 
clergyman  who  exerted  the  most  influence  over  the  early  ecclesias- 
tical transactions  of  that  colony."  2 

HUGH  PETERS. — This  celebrated  unfortunate  was  born  in  1599 
at  Fowey  in  Cornwall,  where  his  father  was  a  merchant.  He  was 
educated  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge ;  and,  after  taking  his  M.A. 
degree,  spent  some  time  in  Essex,  where  he  became  acquainted 
with  Thomas  Hooker,  preached  in  various  places,  and  married  a 
wife  who  afterwards  became  insane  and  caused  him  much  anxiety 
and  trouble.  Settling  for  a  time  in  London,  and  becoming  known 
to  Dr.  Gouge,  Mr.  John  Davenport,  Mr.  White  of  Dorchester,  and 
others,  he  held  a  lectureship  at  St.  Sepulchre's,  to  which  "  the  resort 
grew  so  great  that  it  contracted  envy  and  anger."  He  estimates  his 
hearers  at  "  six  or  seven  thousand  "  ;  which  might  appear  incredible, 
but  for  later  instances.  Getting  into  difficulties  with  Laud,  he 
migrated  to  Rotterdam,  where  he  formed  an  English  Independent 
congregation,  and  remained  pastor  thereof  for  five  or  six  years. 
Annoyances  by  Laud,  through  the  English  Ambassador,  drove  him 
from  Holland;  and  in  1635  he  appeared  in  Massachusetts,  landing 
at  the  same  time  as  the  younger  Vane,  if  not  from  the  same  ship. 
He  became  pastor  of  the  church  at  Salem,  and,  in  conjunction  with 
Vane,  began  immediately  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  politics  of 
Massachusetts.  He  and  Vane  were  associated  with  Governor  Win- 
throp  in  directing  the  first  planting  of  Connecticut ;  and,  after  Vane 
left  Massachusetts,  Peters  is  still  heard  of  as  a  leading  spirit  in  the 
commerce  and  State  business,  even  more  than  in  the  Church,  of  the 
colony.  He  "went  from  place  to  place,"  says  Winthrop,  "labour- 
ing both  publicly  and  privately  to  raise  up  men  to  a  public  frame  of 
spirit,  and  so  prevailed  as  he  procured  a  good  sum  of  money  to  be 
raised  to  set  on  foot  the  fishing  business."  He  thought  to  end  his 
life  in  New  England  in  such  occupations ;  but  there  was  another 
fate  in  store  for  him.3 

THOMAS  SHEPARD,  M.A.  of  Cambridge;  once  lecturer  at  Earl's 
Colme,  Essex.  After  having  been  chased  hither  and  thither  in 
England  for  nonconformity,  he  emigrated  to  America  in  1635,  at 
the  age  of  thirty ;  became  minister  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts ; 
and  died  there  in  1649.4 

1  Neal's  Puritans,  II.  527  ;  Palfrey,  1660,  quoted  in  Hanbury's  Memorials, 
II.  463  and  528  ;  Mather's  Magnalia,  III.  570—587  ;  Palfrey,  I.  436  et  sea. 
Book  III.  Part  1,  Chap.  II.  *  Deal's  Puritans,  II.  257  ;  Palfrey, 

2  Palfrey,  II.  408-9.  I.  453  ;  Mather's  Magnalia,  Book  III. 

3  Letters  by  Peters  himself,  written  in  Part  2,  Chap.  V. 


EMINENT  NEW  ENGLAND  MINISTERS.  559 

s  \  \n  1 1.  STONE  ;  educated  at  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge  :  had 
a  lecturer  in  Northamptonshire;  went  to  .\\-\\  England  in 
1633  with  Cotton  and  Hooker;  became  "teacher"  of  the  church 
of  Newtown  (Cambridge),  Massachusetts,  of  which  Hooker  was 
"  pastor " ;  removed  thence,  with  Hooker,  to  Hartford,  in  Connec- 
ticut; and  lived,  an  influential  man,  till  1663.  Cotton  Mather,  in 
his  account  of  Hooker,  tells  a  story  of  Stone's  cleverness.  While 
he  and  Hooker  were  skulking  in  London  before  their  escape  to 
New  England,  a  warrant,  at  Laud's  instance,  was  out  for  Hooker's 
arrest.  The  pursuivant  came  to  the  door  of  Stone's  chamber,  where 
he  and  Hooker  were  sitting  together  after  a  walk.  "  Mr.  Stone  was 
at  that  instant  smoking  of  tobacco ;  for  which  Mr.  Hooker  had  been 
reproving  him,  as  being  then  used  by  few  persons  of  sobriety." 
When  the  officer  knocked,  Stone,  with  the  pipe  in  his  mouth,  went 
to  the  door.  "  Is  Mr.  Hooker  here  ? "  asked  the  officer.  "  What 
Hooker  ? "  said  Stone  :  "  Do  you  mean  the  Hooker  that  once  lived  at 
Chelmsford?"  "Yes,"  said  the  officer.  "If  it  be  he,"  replied 
Stone,  "  it  is  about  an  hour  since  I  saw  him  at  such  and  such  a 
house  in  the  City  :  you  had  better  make  haste."  The  man  believed 
in  the  pipe  and  went  away.1 

NATHANIEL  WARD,  M.A.  of  Cambridge ;  formerly  Rector  of 
Standon  Massye,  Essex.  Driven  from  England  for  nonconformity, 
he  had  arrived  in  Massachusetts  in  1634  at  the  age  of  thirty-one, 
and  became  pastor  of  the  church  of  Ipswich.  He  remained  in  this 
charge,  however,  only  two  years ;  and  during  the  rest  of  his  stay  in 
the  colony  he  assisted  chiefly  in  its  political  business.  Before  taking 
orders  in  England  he  had  been  a  Common  Law  barrister;  and 
hence,  when  the  Iff  MM  <il  ill*  till  colonists  resolved  to  have  a  written 
Code  of  Laws  of  their  own,  instead  of  the  mere  recollection  of  the 
Laws  of  England  they  had  brought  with  them,  he  was  employed  to 
prepare  it.  It  was  enacted  in  1641  under  the  title  of  The  Body  of 
rtiest  and  consisted  of  one  hundred  fundamental  laws.2 

TIIM.M  \-  \\  KJ.DE,  probably  a  Cambridge  man.  He  had  gone  out 
issachusetts  in  1632,  and  had  been  appointed  co-minister  with 
Eliot  to  the  church  in  Roxbury.  He  was  of  some  influence  in  tin- 
colony,  but  was  to  return  to  England  after  nine  years  of  American 
experience,  and  was  to  report  that  experience,  in  various  ways, 
for  the  instruction  of  English  society.  He  lived  till  after  the 
Restoration.8 

.Jnn\  Win  ii  u  ii.. ii  i  ;  educated  at  Cambridge  University,  \vli.  i« 
-aid  to  have  formed  an  acquaintance  with  Cromwell.  He  had 
been  a  minister  in  England  ;  but  had  emigrated  in  1636,  and  become 
.1  in-  uiber  of  the  church  at  Boston.  Immediately  he  joined  a 
certain  "  Antinomian  movement "  (hereafter  to  be  spoken  of)  then 
agitating  the  colony.  Of  this  movement  he  became  a  leader,  preach- 
ing and  contending  in  its  behalf.  At  length,  after  much  excitement 

»  Palfrey,  I.  445,  and  II.  490 ;  and          *  Palfrey,  II.  22-26. 
Hdfatr,  •  i  'Palfrey,  1. 367  and  682-4. 


560  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

and  division  among  the  colonists,  he  was  censured,  and  with  other 
ringleaders  banished  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  colony.  He  then 
(1638)  transferred  himself,  with  a  body  of  companions,  to  the 
outlying  parts  north  of  Massachusetts  (now  New  Hampshire  and 
Maine),  where  they  founded  Exeter,  and  afterwards  a  town  called 
Wells.  But  in  1644  he  made  his  peace  with  the  Massachusetts 
people;  and,  returning  to  England,  he  lived  on  till  1679,  to  be 
farther  heard  of  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.1 

ROGER  WILLIAMS. — No  man  in  our  present  list  deserves  more 
attention  than  this,  or  will  reappear  more  interestingly  in  the  sub- 
sequent course  of  our  History.  The  known  facts  of  his  life,  as  far 
as  1640,  are  as  follows  : — He  was  a  Welshman,  born  in  Carmarthen- 
shire in  or  about  1606,  and  possibly  (though  this  is  but  vague 
tradition)  related  by  some  link  of  kin  to  Cromwell ;  for  whose 
family  name  of  "  Cromwell "  the  name  "  Williams  "  was  a  recognised 
alias,  used  by  Cromwell  himself  as  such  in  some  of  his  juvenile 
signatures.  He  was  educated  at  Charterhouse  School,  London,  and 
then  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  which  he  entered  in  1624.  He  was 
then  a  protege  of  the  great  lawyer  and  judge,  Sir  Edward  Coke ; 
of  whose  speeches  in  the  Star  Chamber  he  sometimes  took  notes 
in  shorthand,  and  whose  kindness  to  him  he  spoke  of  warmly  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  He  appears  to  have  taken  orders  in  the  Church  of 
England  ;  but  he  soon  became  so  decidedly  a  Separatist  that  he 
saw  no  safety  except  in  emigration.  "  That  man  of  honour  and 
"  wisdom  and  piety,  your  dear  father,"  he  wrote  long  afterwards  to 
a  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  "  was  often  pleased  to  call  me  his 
son;  and  truly  it  was  as  bitter  as  death  to  me,  when  Bishop 
Laud  pursued  me  out  of  the  land,  and  my  conscience  was  per- 
suaded against  the  National  Church,  and  ceremonies  and  bishops, 
beyond  the  conscience  of  your  dear  father, — I  say  it  was  as  bitter 
as  death  to  me,  when  I  rode  Windsor-way  to  take  ship  at  Bris- 
"  to  we,  and  saw  Stoke  House,  where  that  blessed  man  was,  and 
"  durst  not  acquaint  him  with  my  conscience  and  my  flight."  He 
arrived  in  Massachusetts  in  1631,  aged  about  twenty-five;  and,  his 
reputation  having  gone  before  him,  he  was  unanimously  chosen 
Teacher  at  Boston  (two  years  before  Cotton  came  to  take  that  post). 
Somehow  that  arrangement  did  not  take  effect;  and,  Higginson 
dying  at  Salem,  he  was  called  to  the  "  Teachership  "  of  the  church 
there,  so  made  vacant.  But  from  the  first  moment  of  his  arrival 
in  New  England  the  country  began  to  ring  with  his  singularities  of 
opinion.  How  strange  were  those  singularities,  and  how  vehement 
a  man  in  the  infant  New  England  was  Roger  Williams  altogether, 
may  be  gathered  from  the  passage  in  which  Cotton  Mather  first 
describes  him  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,  written 
some  seventy  years  afterwards.  "In  the  year  1654,"  says  Cotton 
Mather,  "  a  certain  Windmill  in  the  Low  Countries,  whirling  round 
"with  extraordinary  violence,  by  reason  of  a  violent  storm  then 
i  Palfrey,  I.  472  et  seq. 


ROGER  WILLIAMS.  561 

4  blowing,  the  stone  at   length   by  its  rapid  motion  became  so 

*  intensely  hot  as  to  fire  the  Mill,  from  whence  the  flames,  being 

*  dispersed  by  the  high  winds,  did  set  a  whole  Town  on  fire.     Hut 
4  I  can  tell  my  reader  that,  above  twenty  years  before  this,  there 
'  was  a  whole  Country  in  America  like  to  be  set  on  fire  by  the 
4  rapid  motion  of  a  Windmill  in  the  head  of  one  particular  man." 

So  Cotton  Mather,  expressing  the  opinion  of  orthodox  New  Eng- 
land respecting  Roger  Williams  at  a  time  when  angry  recollection 
of  his  heterodoxies,  and  of  the  perturbation  he  had  caused  in  the 
early  state  of  the  colonies,  was  mingled  with  a  sort  of  vague  liking 
for  him  after  all,  and  a  sense  that  his  life  as  a  whole  had  not  been 
without  features  that  would  make  him  a  picturesque  figure  for  ever 
in  early  American  history.  Meanwhile,  not  from  Cotton  Mather's 
point  of  view,  we  have  to  study  the  man  for  ourselves.  What 
were  the  heterodoxies  that  first  came  from  the  windmill  in  his 
head  ?  That  the  civil  magistrate  had  no  right  to  impose  oaths,  to 
punish  Sabbath-breakers,  or  to  compel  to  church-membership  ;  that 
the  lands  of  the  colonists  could  not  be  theirs  by  any  title  from 
home,  unless  they  were  fairly  purchased  from  the  Indians;  that 
meetings  of  neighbouring  ministers  on  never  so  small  a  scale  for 
so-called  purposes  of  conference  and  discussion  perilled  individual 
liberty  and  the  true  principle  of  the  Independency  of  Churches, 
and  tended  to  Presbyterian  consociation  and  tyranny :  these,  in 
many  varieties  of  ways,  were  the  novelties  that  broke  upon  the 
astonished  people  of  Massachusetts  from  the  preachings  and  pro- 
phesy ings  of  the  young  Welshman.  Personally  he  was  most  likeable, 
— sincere  to  the  core,  and  of  a  rich,  glowing,  peculiarly  affectionate 
nature,  which  yearned  even  towards  those  from  whom  he  differed 
publicly,  and  won  their  esteem  in  return.  But  what  were  they  to 
do?  Mere  religious  whimsies  they  might  have  borne  with  so  far 
in  Williams,  including  even  his  Individualism,  or  excess  of  Sepa- 
ratism ;  but  here  were  attacks  on  law,  property,  social  order !  For  a 
time  it  was  hoped  that  reasonings,  moderate  censures,  and  moral 
pressure  would  bring  him  round.  But,  though  he  shift  CM!  from 
place  to  place, — leaving  Salem  for  a  time  for  New  Plymouth,  where 
he  tried  to  get  on  with  the  mild  Brcwster,  and  then  returning  to 
Salem,  where  the  people  were  so  attached  to  him  that  they  would 
have  him  to  be  their  "pastor"  on  the  death  of  Skelton  (1634),— 
yet;  as  he  became  more  determined  in  his  singularities,  and  main- 
tained them  by  writings,  harder  measures  were  used.  Governor 
I  Li \  nes  and  the  magistrates  interfered ;  and  at  a  General  Court  of 
the  whole  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  held  at  Boston  in  S<  |.t. ml.n 

tins  order  was  passed:  "Whereas  Mr.  Roger  William 
44  of  the  Elders  of  the  Church  of  Salem,  hath  broached  and  divulged 
••  divers  new  and  dangerous  opinions  against  the  authority  of  magis- 

•<>s,  and  also  writ  letters  of  defamation  both  of  the  magi.-* 
44  and  churches  here,  and  that  More  any  conviction,  and  yet  main 
"taineth  the  saim- \\ithoiit  ivtra.-ti,.n.  it   li  therefore  or 

"tin-  Mid   Mr.  \\illi.ini,  -hall  ;t  of   thi.s  jiiri>di«  t  ion  within 

VOL.   II 


562  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  six  weeks  now  next  ensuing."  The  term  of  six  weeks'  grace  was 
afterwards  extended  for  his  accommodation ;  but,  as  he  was  pug- 
nacious still,  and  his  mere  removal  from  Salem  or  even  beyond  the 
bounds  of  Massachusetts  did  not  promise  the  quietness  desired,  it 
was  proposed  to  kidnap  him  in  a  friendly  way  and  ship  him  back 
to  England.  This  was  a  process  to  which  the  colonists  had  resorted 
as  the  simplest  and  really  the  kindliest  in  one  or  two  previous  cases 
of  refractory  obstinates.  Having  received  a  hint,  however,  Williams, 
with  his  wife  and  family,  left  Salem  secretly  in  January  1635-6, 
and  took  to  the  woods.  For  fourteen  weeks,  among  the  Pokanoket 
Indians,  south-west  of  New  Plymouth,  in  frost  and  snow,  he  wan- 
dered about,  on  foot  or  by  boat,  "  not  knowing  what  bread  or  bed 
did  mean,"  but  kindly  treated  by  the  Indians,  whose  language  he 
had  learnt,  and  among  whom  he  had  some  influence  by  previous 
experience.  His  notion  was  to  find  out  some  suitable  spot  for  a 
settlement  of  his  own,  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts. 
At  last,  a  suggestion  from  Governor  Winthrop,  whose  real  regard 
for  him  was  combined  with  political  prudence,  determined  him  still 
farther  west,  into  the  country  of  the  Narraganset  Indians.  Here, 
at  the  head  inlet  of  Narraganset  Bay,  by  the  mouth  of  the  Seekonk 
River,  he  and  his  family,  with  five  families  who  adhered  to  them, 
founded,  in  June  1636,  the  town  of  Providence,  thus  beginning 
that  plantation  of  the  Rhode  Island  district  of  which  we  have 
taken  account  in  our  summary  of  the  state  of  infant  New  England. 
The  lands  were  scrupulously  bought  from  the  Indians ;  and  the 
agreement  among  the  settlers  themselves  was  such  that  their  little 
obscure  community  was  then  probably  the  most  absolutely  demo- 
cratic in  theory  on  the  whole  face  of  the  earth.  Williams,  the 
founder  of  the  settlement,  was  also  its  pastor  and  teacher.  Not 
even  so,  however,  cut  off  from  the  world  though  he  was,  with  the 
few  most  kindred  souls  of  his  own  gathering  to  keep  him  company, 
could  he  be  at  ease  with  himself  or  with  them.  In  1639  the 
Massachusetts  people  heard  that  he  had  become  a  Baptist,  having 
first  caused  himself  to  be  rebaptized  by  a  poor  man  named 
Holyman,  all  the  way  from  Salem,  and  having  then  rebaptized 
his  baptizer  and  some  ten  more;  thus  establishing  what  was 
practically  the  first  Baptist  Church  in  America.  The  Massachu- 
setts people,  though  Williams  was  beyond  their  bounds,  could  not 
hear  of  such  perversity  with  indifference.  Mr.  Cotton  of  Boston 
and  other  ministers  made  comments  on  it ;  and,  as  Williams  was 
still  nominally  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Salem,  of  which  he  had 
been  pastor,  that  church,  with  their  new  pastor,  Hugh  Peters,  at 
their  head,  showed  their  sense  of  the  apostasy  by  excommunicating 
Williams,  his  wife,  and  some  others  of  the  rebaptized,  and  intimat- 
ing the  fact  officially  by  letters  to  the  various  Massachusetts 
churches.  But  Williams,  even  as  excommunicated  by  Peters,  was 
not  at  the  end  of  things.  He  had  his  doubts  yet.  How  could 
this  baptism  or  re-baptism  be  right  1  It  was  not  direct  from  God  ; 
it  had  not  been  administered  by  an  Apostle  !  Was  there  any  real 


ROGER  WILL  I  563 

Church  on  earth  ;  were  there  any  visible  ordinances  whatever  really 
from  God  1  It  not,  \\hat  remained  for  one  ?  What  hut  solitary  praying 
ami  meditating, — no  definite  certainty,  but  only  a  continued  tedeing 
'  ;«><!,  if  perchance  He  might  be  found?  And  so,  at  the  head 
irraganset  Bay,  in  what  was  then  the  poor  Providence  Planta- 
tion, but  is  now  the  main  city  of  Rhode  Island  State,  we  leave 
lloger  Williams  for  the  present.  Let  the  reader  fancy  him  in 
1640,  a  man  of  thirty-four,  of  bold  and  stout  jaw,  but  with  the 
richest  and  softest  eyes,  gazing  out  upon  the  Bay  of  his  dwelling, 
a  spiritual  Crusoe,  the  excommunicated  even  of  Hugh  Peters,  and 
the  most  extreme  and  outcast  soul  in  all  America.1 

Of  those  seventeen  persons,  it  may  be  noted,  fourteen  had 
been  bred  at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  only  three 
(Davenport,  Mather,  and  Williams)  at  the  University  of 
Oxford.  This  was  probably  the  proportion  among  the  entire 
body  of  the  seventy  or  eighty  New  England  divines  of  1640 
whom  the  selected  seventeen  represent ;  for  Cambridge  was 
and  had  long  been  the  Alma  Mater  of  Puritans.  But  the  New 
Englanders  desired  an  Alma  Mater  of  their  own,  to  render 
t  lie  in  independent  of  imports  from  beyond  the  seas,  and  yet 
secure  that  their  native  candidates  for  the  ministry  should  be 
sufficiently  learned.  They  "  dreaded  to  leave  an  illiterate 
ministry  to  the  churches  when  their  present  ministers  should 
lie  in  the  dust."  Hence,  in  October  1636,  the  foundation, 
by  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  of  a  College  at  Newtown 
(whose  name  was  consequently  changed  to  Cambridge),  close 
to  Boston.  The  first  endowment  was  by  a  vote  of  40 O/.  by 
tin  Court  of  the  Colony,  a  large  sum  for  such  a  purpose  in  a 
colony  which  had  hardly  yet  roads,  buildings,  or  bridges; 
and,  a  riti/eii,  named  John  Harvard,  having,  at  his  death  in 
1638,  left  his  library  and  TOO/,  nmn  i..  the  foundation,  it  hid 
a  fair  .start  in  that  year  as  Harvard  '  Off  // •  '  '' 

University,  the  oldest  university  in  the  I'nited  States.  Its 
first  principal  was  a  Nathaniel  Eaton,  a  perfect  Orbilius 
Plagosus,  who  was  dismissed  in  1640,  to  make  way  for  a 
Miperior  Cantal.,  named  H.-nry  I  Minster.  Already  schools 
in  Massachusetts  and  the  other  colonies  ;  ami 

»  Palfrey,  I.   406— 426  ;   Hnnbury'*       Roffor  William-  by  American*  ;  among 

w|«T«  (1834),  Uwrnnoir* 

khar*!  M.,.,,.,,1...    l',,,l.  \  II.  <  !..,,   II.       (1846)    ind  I   I   •       1862). 

I  :...-..!  .:..-.|  i.          :.    .  : 


564  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  first  printing-press  in  America,  a  rickety  attachment  to 
Harvard  College,  was  at  work  in  1639.  First  it  printed  a 
public  document  called  the  Freeman's  Oath,  then  a  Psalm- 
book,  and  then  (1640)  a  volume  of  poems  by  Mrs.  Anne 
Bradstreet.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  original  work 
printed  in  America.  There  had  been  plenty  of  rough  com- 
position before,  but  it  was  all  in  manuscript.1 

No  less  among  the  21, 000  or  22, 000  Independents  forming 
en  masse  the  population  of  New  England  than  among  the 
thousand  or  two  of  English  Separatists  whom  we  have  seen 
scattered  through  a  few  of  the  Dutch  towns,  and  outnumbered 
there  by  orthodox  Church  of  England  residents  and  Scottish 
Presbyterian  exiles,  there  had  been,  it  will  have  been  observed, 
controversies  and  divisions.  There  had  been  Independency 
outgoing  Independency,  Separatism  beyond  Separatism,  "  la- 
borious orient  ivory  sphere  in  sphere."  That  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at.  Men  will  differ  under  any  dispensation  ;  and 
the  amount  of  mutual  animosity  that  may  accompany  their 
differences  will  depend  on  the  things  differed  about,  and  on 
the  temperament,  education,  and  self-control  of  the  contro- 
versialists. Even  the  law  of  libel  at  any  time  in  any  com- 
munity must  be  much  a  matter  of  convention.  But,  besides 
this,  it  may  be  said  to  belong  to  the  very  theory  of  Church 
Independency  that  it  shall  foster  the  development  of  theo- 
logical differences  and  their  strenuous  expression.  At  first 
sight,  at  all  events,  what  one  would  expect  under  this  system, 
from  its  very  nature,  would  be  an  increased  tendency  to 
doctrinal  differentiation,  accompanied  (unless  for  some  law 
in  human  nature  diminishing  animosity  in  differences  as 
differences  become  multiplied)  by  an  increased  display  of 
animosity  over  the  differences.  For  it  is  not  only  the  liberty 
of  any  number  of  like-minded  atoms  to  form  themselves  into 
a  church  or  society  that  Independency  asserts,  nor  is  it  only  the 
entire  mutual  distinctness  of  the  societies  thus  formed.  There 
is  asserted  also  the  right  of  extreme  vigilance  by  every  such 

1  Palfrey,  I.  548-9,  and  IE.  45-49 ;  Trubner's  Bibliographical  Guide  to  American 
Literature,  xxx-xxxix. 


NEW  ENGLAND  CONGREGATIONALISM.  565 

society  over  new  admissions  into  it,  and  of  the  freest  mutual 
criticism  and  censure  of  all  once  included  in  it,  so  that  all 
shall  be  kept  to  the  strict  mark  of  their  covenant,  and  of  the 
code  of  their  fellows.  This  agency  of  mutual  stimulation, 
vigilance,  and  remonstrance,  ending,  if  need  be,  in  the 
formal  censure  of  an  erring  brother,  his  suspension  from 
church  privileges,  or  even  his  utter  ejection  and  excommuni- 
cation, is  that,  indeed,  to  which  Independency  principally 
trusts  for  conservation  of  purity  of  faith  as  well  as  integrity 
of  morals.  Hence,  along  with  the  large  liberty  of  difference 
provided  by  the  system,  one  might  expect  an  increased  re- 
sentment of  difference.  One  might  expect  a  cultivated  habit 
of  fault-finding,  and  an  unusual  licence  of  invective  against 
members  of  a  different  communion,  and  of  verbal  hue-and- 
cry  after  seceding  or  excommunicated  brothers.  This  right 
of  invective,  however,  of  prohibition  of  difference  under  pain 
of  being  ill  thought  of  and  ill  spoken  of,  exists,  as  I  have 
said,  in  all  communities.  It  depends  for  the  style  of  its 
exercise  on  the  education  of  the  individual  and  the  state  of 
the  conventional  law  of  libel,  and  is  quite  a  distinct  thing 
from  civil  persecution,  or  prohibition  of  difference  under  direct 
legal  penalties  to  life,  limb,  or  property.  There  may  be 
much  personal  and  social  intolerance,  much  want  of  charity, 
much  mutual  obloquy  and  excommunication,  where  there  is 
IH -ilcct  legal  toleration  of  the  differences  concerned.  How 
was  \«  w  England  situated  in  this  last  respect  ?  That  there 
were  religious  disputes  and  differences  in  the  population  has 
appeared  sufficiently  from  our  biographic  notices  of  a  few  of 
the  leading  New  England  ministers.  The  question  now  is, 
how  far  those  disputes  and  differences  were  mere  incidents  of 
the  Church  History  of  the  community,  exhausted  in  those 
verbal  controversies  and  mutual  censures  and  excommunica- 
tions which  the  peculiar  Church  organization  allowed  ami 
<'\vn  encouraged,  and  how  far  they  transcended  this  sphere 
and  encountered  civil  penalty.  In  other  words,  Were  there 
any  directions  of  theological  opinion  for  which  there  was 
not  legal  liberty  even  in  New  England,  with  all  its  church 
Independency ? 


566  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

There  were.  Although  it  was  for  freedom  of  opinion  and 
worship  that  the  Puritans  had  gone  to  New  England,  and 
although,  in  recollection  of  this,  they  tried  hard  to  be  tolerant 
of  varieties  of  opinion  among  themselves,  and  not  to  disgrace 
their  new  soil  with  any  such  apparatus  of  civil  persecutions 
and  tortures  for  religious  dissent  as  that  from  which  they 
had  fled  at  home,  they  could  not  make  up  their  minds  to  give 
a  carte  llanche  to  everything.  That  they  extinguished  at  once 
several  small  attempts  to  import  Prelacy  and  the  Liturgy 
among  them,  laying  hold  of  the  offenders  and  sending  them 
home  in  the  first  ship,  may  be  passed  over  as  mere  acts  of 
self-protection,  mere  arrests  of  spies  in  their  camp,  while  they 
were  entrenching  themselves  in  their  new  ground,  and  Laud 
had  his  schemes  for  troubling  them.1  That  they  had  strict 
laws  against  Sabbath-breaking,  and  otherwise  mixed  up  in 
their  police  code  as  rules  of  social  order  what  were  really 
Puritanisms,  or  special  interpretations  of  Biblical  ideas,  may 
also  be  passed  over,  as  natural  in  their  circumstances,  and 
sanctioned  by  a  consent  among  themselves  as  complete  as 
that  which  forbade  stealing,  or  fraud,  or  rioting.  What 
cannot  be  passed  over,  however,  inasmuch  as  it  met  with 
protests  among  themselves,  and  pointed  to  imperfections  in 
their  theory  of  Church  Independency,  or  at  least  to  an  in- 
adequate adjustment  as  yet  of  their  notions  of  that  theory 
with  the  full  principles  of  Civil  Liberty,  was  their  prohibition 
of  several  developments  of  strictly  theological  or  eccle- 
siastical opinion,  which  could  not  legitimately  be  described 
as  mere  sedition,  or  even  as  transgressions  of  the  essential 
rule  of  Church  Independency  itself. 

The  theory  of  Independency  being  that  the  collective 
Church  in  any  State  ought  to  consist  solely  of  the  voluntary 
concourses  of  Christian  believers  within  that  State,  drawn 

1  "It  was  once  under  consultation  "strangled  in  the  first  conception  by 

' of  the  Chief  Physicians  who  were  to  "the    violent    breaking    out    of    the 

'take  especial  care   of  the   Church's  "troubles  in  Scotland."— So  writes  the 

health  to  send  a  Bishop  over  to  them  Anglican  Dr.  Peter  Heylyn,  in  his  Life 

'  [the  New  Englanders]  for  their  better  of    Laud   (see    Hanbury's   Memorials, 

'  government,  and  to  back  him  with  II.  41  -  2) ;  and  the  passage  authenti- 

some   forces,   to  compel,   if  he  were  cates  Laud's  plans  for  the  New  Eng- 

'  not    otherwise    able    to    persuade,  landers  about  1637. 
'obedience  :     but    this    design     was 


NEW  ENGLAND  CONGREGATIONALISM.  567 

together  by  their  like-mindedness,  and  forming  so   many 
difU'rent   particular  churches,   each    distinct   within    itself, 
there  ensue  at  once,  if  one   thinks  of  it,  certain   curious 
questions  as  to  the  relations  of  the  State  to  this  Collective 
( '1  lurch.     Are  there  to  be  no  relations  whatever  ?     Is  the 
State  to  allow  the  concourses  to  go  on  within  it,  taking  no 
heed  whether  they  are  few  or  many,  active  or  languishing, 
what  proportion  of  the  population  is  whirled  into  them  or 
remains  out  of  them,  or  what  the  concourses  do  within  them- 
selves in  the  way  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  so  long  as  civil 
rights  and   the  public  peace  are   not  violated  ?     This  is 
Church  Independency  at  its  purest.     This  is  the  Independ- 
ency which  avows  the  absolute  separatedness  of  the  sphere 
of  conscience  from  the  sphere  of  civil  polity,  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Christ  from  the  Kingdom  of  this  World.     If,  however, 
Church  Independency,  still  retaining  the  name,  stops  short 
of  this  extreme,  what  questions  start  up  for  it  to  answer  !     Is 
the  State  itself  to  be  in  a  manner  Christian,  and,  if  so,  in 
what  manner,  and  by  what  methods  apart  from  the  Church  ? 
Is  it  the  State's  duty  to  stimulate  the  formation  of  the  con- 
courses of  believers  within  itself  ?     Is  it  to  do  its  best  to  see 
that  all  the  population  are  brought  within  the  concourses ; 
or,  in  other  words,  are  brought  to  profess  Christianity  in  some 
society  or  other ;  and,  for  that  purpose,  is  it  to  have  a  right 
to  look  after  those  who  would  lurk  in  the  interstices  between 
the  existing  churches  ?     As  it  is  the  rule  of  Independency  that 
each  church  admits  its  own  members,  and  ought  to  be  vigilant 
as  to  the  sufficient  faith  and  grace  of  those  whom  it  admits,  the 
State  could  hardly  be  vested  with  the  power  of  compulsion 
of  all  into  membership  with  the  existing  churches.     For  lo ! 
though  it  might  drive  all  to  the  doors  of  these  churches,  the 
poor  wretches  would  be  met  at  each  door  with  a  rejection  as 
not  qualified  for  membership.     Well  then,  might  there  be  a 
in i<  1« lie  course  ?     Might  the  State  at  least  compel  a  habit  of 
c-hurch-ur"iiiLr,  «>f  att.-inlance  at  some  place  of  Christian  in- 
struction and  worship,  so  that  all  might  be  brought  within 
Christian  influences,  and  have  a  chance  of  becoming  qualified 
for  church-membership  ^um -Nvli.-iv  '     \\\\\  will  any  kind  of 


568  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

church-membership  do,  or  is  the  State  to  have  the  right  of 
determining  what  kind  of  church-membership  shall  be  satis- 
factory ?      There  might  be  concourses  of  Pagans,  Turks,  or 
Atheists,  calling  themselves  churches  ;  and  undoubtedly  there 
would  be  such,  if  membership  of  some  church  were  compul- 
sory but  there  were  no  limit  as  to  the  sort  of  church  that 
would  do.      Must  the  allowed  concourses  in  churches  then  be 
bond  fide  Christian  ?      In  that  case  must  it  not  be  reserved 
for  the  State  to  settle  what  shall  be  considered  bond  fide 
Christianity  ?      There  is  an  orthodox  Christianity,  or  there 
are  a  number  of  forms  of  Christianity  varying  so  slightly,  or 
all  so  respectably  supported,  that  they  may  pass  collectively 
as  orthodox  ;   but  there  are  also  heresies,  errors,  queer  beliefs, 
professed    by   particular    minds,    or    even    by   considerable 
numbers  of  persons,  as   truths  painfully  derived  from  the 
Bible,  and  binding  on  the  conscience  of  genuine  Christians. 
A  sensible  State  government  would  not  be  very  harsh  in  its 
judgment  among  such  diversities,  and  would  allow  a  reason- 
able latitude.      But  still,  if  the  principle  were  that  the  State 
had  any  business  whatever  with  Religion,  it  would  be  sure  to 
find  that  some  of  the  sets  of  beliefs  offering  themselves  as 
strictly   Christian,  and  demanding  the  right  of  embodying 
themselves  in  churches,  were  barely  entitled  to  that  recogni- 
tion.     In  short,  the  State  would  have  to  exercise  a  constant 
supervision  over  the  churches  formed  or  forming  themselves 
within  it,  calling  for  their  creeds  and  articles  of  agreement, 
and  deciding  whether  they  were  satisfactory  or  unsatisfactory. 
It  would  have  to  see  that  fundamental  error  did  not  arise 
within  churches  already  formed,  and  that  all  new  churches 
formed  were  sufficiently  of  the  right  sort. 

All  these  questions  as  to  the  relations  of  Church  and  State 
had  actually  arisen  in  the  history  of  English  Independency, 
and  they  had  been  answered  by  such  a  rough  practical  com- 
promise in  the  institutions  of  New  England  Independency 
as  left  that  Independency  far  short  of  theoretical  Independ- 
ency at  its  purest. 

What  opinion  had  been  held  by  the  strange  Eobert  Brown, 
the  originator  of  English  Independency,  on  the  subject  of  the 


W  ENGLAND  CONGREGATIONALISM.  569 

relations  of  Church  and  State,  or  the  power  of  the  Civil 
Magistrate  in  the  formation  and  regulation  of  churches,  it 
might  interest  us  to  know.  Certain  it  is  that  by  his.  best 
known  successors,  amid  all  their  denunciations  of  the  Church 
of  England  and  their  expositions  of  the  principle  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, there  had  been  an  explicit  admission  of  some  such 
power.  Thus  Barrowe  and  Greenwood,  the  first  martyrs  on 
the  scaffold  for  Separatism,  had  written  jointly  in  an  Epistle 
to  Lord  Burleigh,  "  We  acknowledge  that  the  Prince  ought 
"  to  compel  all  subjects  to  the  hearing  of  God's  word  in  the 
"  public  exercises  of  the  Church,"  adding,  "  Yet  cannot  the 
'  Prince  compel  any  to  be  a  member  of  the  Church,  or  the 
"  Church  to  receive  any  without  assurance  by  public  pro- 
"  fession  of  their  own  faith."  l  Again  Barrowe  separately 
had  written,  "  The  Prince  is  charged,  and  in  duty  ought,  to 
"  see  the  ministers  of  the  Church  do  their  duty  and  teach 
"  the  law  of  God  diligently  and  sincerely  "  ;  and  Greenwood, 
"  The  magistrate  ought  to  compel  the  infidels  to  hear  the 
"  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  also,  with  the  approbation  of 
"  the  Church,  to  send  forth  meet  men,  with  gifts  and  graces, 
"  to  instruct  the  infidels."  *  So,  even  more  strongly,  Johnson, 
the  first  pastor  of  the  English  Separatists  in  Amsterdam. 
"  Princes,"  he  had  said,  "may  and  ought,  within  their  do- 
"  minions,  to  abolish  all  false  worship  and  all  false  ministries 
"  whatsoever,  and  to  establish  the  true  worship  and  ministry 
"  appointed  by  God  in  his  word,  commanding  and  compelling 
"  thrir  subjects  to  come  into  and  practise  no  other  but  this; 
"  yet  must  they  leave  it  unto  God  to  persuade  the  conscience, 
"  and  to  add  to  his  Church,  from  time  to  time,  such  as  shall 
"  be  saved."  8  Nay,  even  Robinson,  the  liberal  Robinson,  the 
founder  of  the  Independency  which  had  been  most  accepted, 
ha<l  written  to  the  same  effect.  "  That  godly  magistrates, 
he  said,  "are  by  compulsion  to  repress  public  and  notable 
"  idolatry,  as  also  to  provi<l«  that  the  truth  of  God,  in  his 
"  ordinance,  !>••  taught  and  published  in  their  dominions,  I 
no  doubt  :  it  may  be  also  it  is  not  unlawful  tor  tln-m. 


'  Quoted  in  Hanl.ury'H  M.-in.  I.  52.  In-l,-,.-  •    i  III.  44. 

«  <Juotod    in     I  -f  v.l  ii.i.l.  III.   i:.. 


570  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  by  some  penalty  or  other,  to  provoke  their  subjects  univer- 
"  sally  unto  hearing  for  their  instruction  and  conversion ; 
"  yea,  to  grant  they  may  inflict  the  same  upon  them,  if,  after 
"  due  teaching,  they  offer  not  themselves  unto  the  Church."1 
There  were  not  wanting,  as  we  shall  see  in  time,  protests 
against  this  view  of  the  Civil  Magistrate's  power  by  some  of 
the  other  Separatists,  contemporaries  of  Johnson  and  Robin  - 
son  ;  but  that  it  was  the  view  of  all  those  who  professed  the 
moderate  or  Eobinsonian  Independency  is  proved  beyond 
doubt  by  the  fact  that  in  a  formal  Confession  of  Faith  put 
forth  in  1616  by  the  first  avowedly  Independent  congrega- 
tion in  London,  established  in  that  year  by  Robinson's  friend 
Henry  Jacob  on  his  return  from  Holland,  there  occurs  this 
statement :  "  We  believe  that  we,  and  all  true  visible 
"  churches,  ought  to  be  overseen,  and  kept  in  good  order 
"  and  peace,  and  ought  to  be  governed,  under  Christ,  both 
"  supremely  and  also  subordinately,  by  the  Civil  Magistrate ; 
"  yea,  in  causes  of  religion,  when  need  is."  2 

The  Independency  carried  over  to  New  England  being 
substantially  the  Robinsonian  Independency,  this  view  of 
the  power  of  the  Civil  Magistrate  in  matters  of  religion  was 
inherent  in  it  from  the  outset.  The  Church  of  New  England 
in  1640  could  regard  itself  as  the  first  instance  of  a  Church 
of  an  entire  community  established  on  the  system  of  Inde- 
pendency ;  but  still,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  it  was  a 
State  Church.  Its  difference  from  the  State  Churches  of 
England  and  Scotland  then  existing  was  that  it  was  a 
State  Church  on  the  principle  of  Congregationalism,  whereas 
they  were  State  Churches  on  the  principles  of  Prelacy  and 
Presbyterianism  respectively.  This  difference  was  certainly 
not  unimportant :  it  affected  very  considerably  the  extent 
and  mode  of  the  interconnexion  between  Church  and  State. 
Thus  the  churches  in  New  England,  to  the  year  1640  and 
beyond,  were  not  upheld,  nor  their  ministers  paid,  by  tithes, 
or  from  the  public  funds  in  any  form.  Save  that  they  had 

1  Quoted    in    Fletcher's  History  of       301,  302  ;  where  indeed  all  the  twenty- 
Independency,  III.  45.  eight  Articles  of  the  Confession  are 

2  Quoted  in  Hanbury's  Memorials,  I.       given  (pp.  293—304). 


NEW   ENGLAND  CONGREGATIONALISM.  571 

the  use  of  the  common  meeting-houses  in  towns  (which,  I 
suppose,  were  erected  at  the  public  expense),  the  congrega- 
tions paid  all  the  expenses  of  their  worship,  including  the 
stipends  of  their  pastors  and  teachers,  out  of  their  own  volun- 
tary offerings  in  the  churches  on  Sundays,  or  out  of  these 
together  with  rates  agreed  upon  among  themselves.  This 
was  in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  of  Independency  on  the 
subject  of  the  maintenance  of  ministers,  as  it  had  been  ex- 
pressed, though  with  some  doubt,  in  the  Confession  of  the 
first  London  congregation  of  Independents  in  1616.  "We 
"  believe," said  the  26th  Article  of  that  Confession,  "that  tithes 
"  for  the  pastor's  maintenance  under  the  Gospel  are  not  the 
"  just  and  due  means  thereof:  howbeit  yet  we  do  not  think 
"  these  tithes  absolutely  unlawful  if  they  remain  voluntary ; 
"  but  when  they  are  made  necessary  we  think  them  not  so 
"  lawful.  The  same  do  we  judge  also  of  whatsoever  other 
"  set  maintenance  for  ministers  of  the  Gospel  established  by 
"  temporal  laws.  We  grant  for  the  minister's  security  such 
"  established  maintenance  is  best ;  but,  for  preserving  due 
"  freedom  in  the  congregation,  sincerity  in  religion,  and 
"  sanctity  in  the  whole  Hock,  the  congregation's  voluntary 
"  and  conscionable  contribution  for  their  pastor's  sustenance 

and  maintenance  is,  doubtless,  the  safest  and  most  approved, 
"  nay,  it  seemeth,  the  only,  way ;  wherewith  the  Apostles 

caused  their  times  to  be  content." l  Clearly  the  accept- 
ance by  the  New  England  Independents  of  the  method  so 
in<li< -ated  did  slacken  the  State's  grip  of  the  Church  and  tin- 
Church's  dependence  on  the  State.  Nevertheless  the  New 
i  nd  church  was  a  State  Church  after  a  fashion.  The 
pious  Puritans  who  had  expatriated  themselves  from  cruel 
ml  had  no  other  idea  than  that  of  founding  in  the 
wilderness  a  commonwealth  pervaded  and  regulated  by  the 
strictest  legislation  of  the  P.ihlc,  and  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  which  should  walk,  all  their  lives  long,  in  the  ways 
•  •f  Puritan  Christianity.  Hence,  by  an  implied  fundamental 
(nm ] »act  from  the  first  in  all  the  colonies,  regular  attendance 
at  c-lmreli  was  compulsory  on  every  one.  As  this  had  been 

>    llanl.ury.   I.  301. 


572  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

the  law  in  England,  and  was  an  axiom  of  the  new  polity  so 
vital  that  the  chance  of  dissent  from  it  was  not  dreamt  of, 
it  hardly  required  formal  statement ;  but  it  was  positively 
enacted  by  the  law  of  Massachusetts.  The  State,  therefore, 
throughout  New  England,  was  related  to  the  Church  in  so 
far  at  least  that  it  compelled  church-attendance.  If  it  re- 
frained from  also  compelling  church-membership,  that  was 
because  such  additional  compulsion  in  any  open  manner 
would  have  outraged  the  prime  maxim  of  Independency, 
which  made  the  admission  of  members  to  any  congregation 
the  solemn  right  of  that  congregation  only.  But,  indirectly, 
there  was  a  compulsion  by  the  State  even  to  this  church- 
membership  which  it  could  not  itself  confer.  A  premium 
was  put  upon  church -membership  by  political  practice; 
in  other  words,  civil  disabilities  and  inconveniences  were 
attached  to  the  want  of  it.  Thus  both  in  Massachusetts 
and  in  New  Haven  church-membership  was  a  condition  of 
the  franchise.  "  It  is  ordered  and  agreed  that,  for  the  time 
"  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this 
"  body -politic  but  such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the 
"  churches  within  the  limits  of  the  same  "  :  such  were  the 
words  of  an  Act  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  in 
1631  ;  and  New  Haven  followed  the  example.  There  was 
no  such  expressed  rule  in  the  constitutions  of  New  Plymouth 
and  Connecticut  colonies ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been 
tantamount  custom.  Actually,  in  each  colony,  the  freemen 
in  whose  hands  the  power  lay,  who  made  the  laws,  imposed 
the  taxes,  and  transacted  public  business  of  all  kinds,  were 
the  assembled  members  of  the  churches  of  the  colony. 
Church-membership,  or  certificated  religious  soundness,  was 
the  thing  most  in  their  heads  when  they  were  called  upon  to 
decide  on  the  fitness  of  any  one  to  receive  or  retain  the  fran- 
chise. What  then  ?  What  but  that  they,  the  State,  must 
keep  their  eye  on  the  churches  that  conferred  this  precious 
prerequisite  to  the  franchise,  and  must  see  that  they  were  all 
of  such  a  sort  that  their  certificates  might  be  trusted  ?  And 
so,  despite  the  principle  of  Congregationalism,  the  State,  in 
various  practical  ways,  was  critic  and  lord  of  the  churches, 


NK\V    KX<JLAND    HKKKSIES.  573 

It  had  its  hands  twined  in  their  concerns.  It  felt  it><  ll 
bound,  even  in  State  polity,  to  prevent  the  formation  of  false 
or  heretical  churches,  through  which  black  sheep  might 
insinuate  themselves  into  the  franchise,  and  also  to  exercise 
a  supervision  over  churches  right  in  faith  at  their  commence- 
ment, to  secure  that  they  did  not  lapse.1 

Imbued  with  such  notions  of  a  certain  inalienable  duty  of 
the  civil  power  in  matters  of  belief  and  conscience,  the  New 
Englanders,  though  creditably  anxious  on  the  whole  to  allow 
freedom  of  opinion  and  speech  in  their  commonwealth,  had 
resorted  to  actual  persecution,  or  something  like  it,  in  their 
treatment  of  at  least  three  movements  or  developments  of 
thought  that  had  appeared  among  them  : — (1.)  The  Individual- 
ism of  Eager  Williams.  The  opinions  by  which  this  extra- 
ordinary man  perplexed  New  England  society,  from  the  first 
moment  of  his  arrival  in  it,  were,  as  we  have  seen,  various ; 
nor  would  it  be  easy  to  embrace  them  all  in  one  name.  One 
of  his  eccentricities  was  his  extreme  and  uncompromising 
Separatism,  condemning  the  mere  semi-Separatism  of  senti- 
ment which  the  New  Englanders  had  derived  from  Robinson 
and  Jacob,  and  protesting,  with  a  heat  beyond  that  of  the 
first  Brownists,  against  the  least  act  implying  recognition 
of  the  Church  of  England  as  a  true  Church  in  any  sense. 
Another  was  his  plaguy  tenet  about  Indian  rights.  Both 
these  together,  however,  might  have  been  pardoned  in  a  man 
of  such  fine  genius  and  such  excellent  heart,  but  for  what  I 
have  called  his  "  Individualism."  We  shall'  have  to  take 
more  particular  account  hereafter  of  this  drift  of  Williams's 
speculations ;  meanwhile  it  is  enough  to  say  that  it  con- 
sisted in  an  assertion  of  the  absolute  right  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  think  and  act  in  religions  mutters  by  his  own 
lights,  and  a  denial  ///  tntu  of  that  notion  of  the  State's  con- 
cern with  religion  which  N.-w  Knidand,  imitating  older 
countries,  had  permitted  to  remain  at  the  foundation  of  her 
polity.  II  •  positions  nf  this  doctrine  were  s<>  fervid, 
and  hnuiu'ht  him  so  n.-.ir  t«.  what  .seeiin-d  sedition  or  the 
preaching  of  anarchy,  that  the  authorities  of  Massachusetts, 
*  Pnlfivy.  II.  Hi  rt  fj.:  I.  :tll  -• 


574  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

as  we  have  seen,  first  roused  all  Salem  against  him,  and  then 
banished  him  out  of  the  colony  altogether  to  the  wilds  of 
Narraganset  Bay.  (2.)  Anabaptism.  Even  before  1640  there 
were  a  few  Baptists  in  New  England,  stigmatised  there,  as  in 
the  old  world,  with  the  name  of  Anabaptists,  in  order  to 
identify  them  with  the  famous  German  Anabaptists  of  the 
Reformation  epoch,  of  whose  excesses  there  were  horrible 
traditions.  Their  main  difference,  however,  from  the  Inde- 
pendents among  whom  they  were  dispersed  was  simply  their 
Anti-Psedobaptism,  or  objection  to  the  baptism  of  infants, 
though  some  conjoined  with  this  Arminian  views  of  free-will 
and  the  extent  of  redemption.  Now,  just  as  Robinson  in 
Holland  had  denounced  Smyth  for  his  Baptist  heresy,  so  the 
Independents  of  New  England  would  not  acknowledge  Bap- 
tists as  properly  within  the  pale  of  Christian  law.  Probably 
because  they  were  few  and  scattered,  one  does  not  hear  as  yet 
of  direct  persecution  of  them  by  the  civil  authorities,  though 
that  was  to  come  in  time.  But  individuals  known  to  hold 
Baptist  opinions  were  looked  on  coldly  and  made  uncomfort- 
able. Thus  Mr.  Chauncey,  in  spite  of  his  merits,  was  kept 
back  because  he  avowed  such  opinions  ;  and  Hanserd  Knollys, 
partly  for  the  same  reason,  seems  to  have  found  no  rest  for  the 
sole  of  his  foot  in  Massachusetts.  It  was  also  the  climax  of 
Roger  Williams's  offences  that,  in  his  Narraganset  retreat,  he 
had  turned  Baptist.  (3.)  Antinomianism.  This  is  the  name 
given  to  a  set  of  opinions,  first  propagated  in  Germany  by 
John  Agricola;  a  contemporary  of  Luther,  to  the  effect  that, 
as  men  are  justified  by  faith  alone,  true  Christians  are  not  to 
be  tried  or  ascertained  by  the  consistency  of  their  conduct 
with  the  merely  moral  law.  Now,  there  had  been  a  most 
picturesque  outbreak  of  some  such  opinions  in  Massachusetts. 
A  Mrs.  Ann  Hutchinson,  "  a  gentlewoman  of  an  haughty 
carriage,  busy  spirit,  competent  wit,  and  a  voluble  tongue," 
had  come  over  in  1634  with  her  husband  and  children  from 
their  home  in  Lincolnshire.  One  of  her  inducements  was 
that  she  might  not  lose  the  ministrations  of  her  favourite 
Mr.  Cotton,  who  had  left  Boston  in  Lincolnshire  for  Boston  in 
New  England  in  the  preceding  year.  Even  on  the  voyage  out 


NEW  ENGLAND   III  KKSIK8:    MRS.  HUTCH1NSON.  575 

slu-  had  uttered  opinions  which  some  of  her  fellow-passengers 
thought  questionable ;  and  no  sooner  had  she  and  her  husband 
settled  in  Boston,  and  become  members  of  Mr.  Cotton's  chuivli, 
than  she  began  to  be  a  power  in  the  place.  It  was  the  custom 
of  the  men  of  the  congregation  to  hold  meetings  for  recapitulat- 
\Ir.  Cotton's  sermons  and  discussing  points  suggested  by 
them.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  got  up  a  twice-a-week  meeting  of  the 
women  for  the  same  purpose,  and  was  the  chief  speaker  in 
those  gatherings.  There  she  began  to  ventilate  her  "  two 
dangerous  errors  " :  viz.  "  that  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
dwells  in  a  justified  person,"  and  "  that  no  sanctification  can 
help  to  evidence  to  us  our  justification."  Branching  out 
from  these,  in  the  course  of  a  year  or  two,  by  her  eloquence, 
as  well  as  by  her  generous  activity  among  the  sick  and  dis- 
tressed, she  had  brought  a  large  number  of  the  Boston  people, 
men  as  well  as  women,  into  sympathy  with  her.  She  was 
called  fondly  "  THE  NON-SUCH  "  (an  anagram  of  her  name 
"  Hutchinson,"  if  spelt  "  Hutchenson  ") ;  and,  when  she  began 
to  denounce  the  New  England  ministers  generally  as  being 
mere  preachers  of  a  dry  "  Covenant  of  Works,"  Boston  was 
not  sure  but  she  might  be  right.  Mr.  Cotton,  and  her  own 
brother-in-law  Wheelwright  (which  last  had  come  out  from 
Ki  inland  in  the  meantime),  were  the  ministers  who  chiefly  satis- 
fied her ;  and  they  in  turn  stood  by  her.  In  short,  Massachu- 
setts was  divided,  socially  and  politically,  into  a  "  Covenant  of 
Works  "party  and  a  Hutchinsonian,  Antinomian,  or  "Covenant 
o  f  < ; race " party.  The  former, including  almost  all  the  ministers 
out  of  Boston,  found  themselves  attacked,  and  could  not  but 
ret  a  Hate.  It  was  now  the  year  of  young  Vane's  governorship 
(1G36),  and  the  Hutchinsonians  were  strong  in  his  support; 
while  ex-go venior  Winthrop  led  the  other  party.  Hu;J  i  I 
went  with  \Vimhrop,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  reprove  Vane  to 
his  face.  Lidding  him  "  emisider  his  youth,  and  short  experi- 
ence <-r  th«  ways  of  God,  and  to  beware  of  peremptory  con- 
clusions, which  In*  perceived  him  to  be  very  apt  unto."  Wilder 
and  wilder  grew  the  war  of  words,  and  of  electioneering 
,  tin-  1 1  utehinsmiians  appearing  to  have  tin*  better.  Hut, 
the  Anti-Hutehin-uniaiis  having  inaiu-.-d.  in  May  (1637),  to 


576  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

bring  back  Winthrop  into  the  Governorship,  with  others  of  his 
party  in  subordinate  posts,  and  Vane  having  shortly  afterwards 
departed  for  England,  the  tide  was  turned.  At  a  synod  of  all 
the  ministers  of  the  colony,  held,  with  the  consent  of  the 
magistrates,  at  Newtown,  in  August  1637,  eighty-two  opinions 
said  to  be  spreading  in  the  colony  were  condemned  as  erro- 
neous, Mrs.  Hutchinson's  heresies  figuring  most  prominently. 
"  It  was  proved  that  more  than  a  score  of  Antinomian  and 
Familistical  errors  had  been  held  forth  by  her  "  ;  and  so,  after 
some  delay,  "  the  sentence  of  excommunication  was  passed 
upon  her."  Even  Mr.  Cotton  gave  his  consent  to  this  condem- 
nation. The  civil  authorities  then  felt  themselves  entitled  to 
press  certain  charges  of  sedition,  contumacy,  and  the  like, 
which  they  had  ready,  against  the  culprits ;  and,  before  the  end 
of  the  year,  sentences  of  banishment  from  the  colony  were 
pronounced  against  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  Mr.  Wheelwright,  and 
another,  while  about  a  dozen  more  were  disfranchised,  or  fined, 
or  both,  some  were  suffered  to  withdraw  in  a  kind  of  stipu- 
lated self- banishment,  and  as  many  as  seventy-six  were  other- 
wise punished.  Thus  was  brought  about  what  is  known  in 
the  history  of  Massachusetts  as  the  Antinomian  Dispersion. 
Wheelwright,  as  we  saw,  withdrew  for  a  time  to  the  out- 
lying Plantations  north  of  Massachusetts  (New  Hampshire 
and  Maine),  where  there  was  a  rough  refuge,  and  plenty  of 
work,  for  wanderers  like  him  and  Hanserd  Knollys.  It  was 
Mrs.  Hutchinson's  intention  to  follow  him  thither ;  but,  on 
farther  advice,  she,  her  husband,  and  some  of  their  adherents, 
resolved  on  a  new  plantation  of  their  own,  quite  on  the  other 
extreme  of  New  England  as  then  colonized, — i.e.  south  beyond 
New  Haven,  and  about  either  Long  Island  or  Delaware  Bay, 
as  the  Dutch  might  permit.  Their  journey  in  this  direction, 
however,  leading  them  to  visit  Koger  Williams  at  his  planta- 
tion of  Providence,  then  two  years  old,  that  worthy  man 
entered  heartily  into  their  counsels,  and  recommended  them 
not  to  persist  in  going  so  far  south,  but  to  become  neighbours 
of  his  on  Ehode  Island,  then  called  Aquetnet.  Here,  accord- 
ingly (March  1638),  was  founded  a  little  community  of  demo- 
cratic Antinomians ;  which,  considerably  increased  by  new 


NEW  ENGLAND  HKKl-IKs:    MRS.  HUTCHIN80N.  577 

comers,  was  split,  by  dissensions  within  itself,  into  the  two 
towns  of  Portsmouth  and  Newport,  at  opposite  ends  of  Rhode 
Island.  It  was  in  the  first  of  these  that  the  Antinomian 
heroine,  and  her  husband,  Mr.  William  Hutchinson,  "  a  man 
of  very  mild  temper  and  weak  parts,  and  wholly  guided 
by  his  wife,"  took  up  their  dwelling.  Mr.  Hutchinson  was,  in 
fact,  the  principal  man  in  Portsmouth,  while  Newport  was 
represented  in  chief  by  Mr.  Coddington,  another  of  the  dis- 
persed Antiuomians.  But  in  1 640,  with  a  view  to  the 
possibility  of  a  patent  from  England  that  should  erect  the 
settlements  in  Rhode  Island,  with  the  neighbouring  one  of 
Providence,  into  a  distinct  colony,  Newport  and  Portsmouth 
united  themselves  in  a  common  jurisdiction,  choosing  Cod- 
dington to  be  first  Governor  of  the  two-towned  Island,  and 
Hutchinson  to  be  one  of  his  Assistants.  This  is  the  last  we 
hear  of  Mr.  Hutchinson.  He  died  probably  in  the  following 
year  ;  for  in  1642  Mrs.  Hutchinson  is  heard  of  as  "  a  widow," 
with  her  family,  including  a  married  daughter,  that  daughter's 
husband,  and  young  children  of  theirs,  still  living  in  Ports- 
mouth, but  getting  weary  of  it  and  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
having  some  new  views  about  the  "  unlawfulness  of  magis- 
tracy." Alas  !  hers  was  to  be  a  tragic  end.  What  it  was  we 
shall  see.  Meanwhile  it  is  with  some  satisfaction  that  one 
leaves  her  in  Rhode  Island,  so  near  to  Roger  Williams. 
Those  two,  I  should  say, — this  man,  yet  in  his  prime,  from 
Carmarthenshire,  and  this  woman,  from  Lincolnshire,  now  with 
wrinkles  round  her  eloquent  eyes, — were  the  two  spirits  in 
New  England  that  had  most  of  the  incalculable  in  them,  and 
had  shot  farthest  ahead  in  the  speculative  gloom.  Williams, 
long  after  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  dead,  and  had  become  a  myth 
or  a  monster  in  the  imagination  of  the  orthodox  religious 
world,  defended  her  memory.  He  had  !•<  <-n  "  familiarly 
acquainted  "  with  her,  he  told  people  who  talked  of  her  from 
hearsay  as  doubtlessly  one  of  the  damned  ;  and  he  "  spake 
much  good  "  of  her.1 

t  ton  Mather's  37.  <         .  II I       I  .Ifrey'a  History  of  New 

England,  I.  472-516,  and  606-609. 

VOL.   II  2  P 


578  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


ENGLISH  INDEPENDENCY  : V.  ITS  CONTINUATION  IN  HOLLAND 

(1620—1640). 

Since  1620  New  England  had  been  preferable  to  Holland 
as  a  refuge  for  English  Puritans  bent  on  emigrating.  Still, 
Holland  was  near  to  England,  while  America  was  far  off; 
and  the  use  of  Holland  as  an  asylum  for  English  Separatists 
had  not  quite  ceased. 

What  had  become  of  the  remains  of  Johnson's  English 
congregation  in  Emden,  of  Jacob's  in  Middleburg,  and  even 
of  Robinson's  in  Leyden,  or  what  ministers  succeeded,  in 
these  towns  respectively,  those  three  chief's  of  early  English 
Independency,  the  records  hardly  permit  us  to  see.  But 
in  the  great  city  of  Amsterdam  the  tradition  is  more 
distinct.  There  is  still  in  Amsterdam  an  alley  known  as 
"  The  Brownists'  Gang " ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
successor  of  Ainsworth  in  the  ministry  to  the  English 
Brownists  or  Independents  who  met  in  that  alley  was  a 
certain  John  Canne,  who  is  remembered  yet  by  antiquaries 
in  literature  as  the  author  of  many  controversial  tracts,  and 
of  a  learned  edition  of  the  Bible  with  marginal  references. 
Besides  being  pastor  of  this  congregation,  he  had  a  printer's 
office  in  Amsterdam,  and,  if  contemporary  gossip  is  to  be 
believed,  "  a  brandery,  or  aquavitae  shop,"  and  also  "  an 
alchemist's  laboratory,"  there  or  somewhere  else.  His  Inde- 
pendency was  of  the  ultra- Separatist  order,  if  indeed  he  was 
not  an  avowed  Baptist ;  and  hence  there  was  a  split  in  his 
congregation  ;  but,  though  he  is  found  visiting  England  occa- 
sionally, he  had  his  head-quarters  in  Amsterdam  from  1622 
to  1667.  Two  other  Dutch  towns,  however,  not  heard  of 
before  as  sheltering  English  Independents,  are  now  found 
sharing  that  distinction  with  Amsterdam.  These  are  Arnheim 

and  Rotterdam. Settled  in  Arnheim,  one  of  the  pleasantest 

of  the  Dutch  towns,  are  found,  between  1638  and  1640, 
Mr.  Thomas  Goodwin  and  Mr.  Philip  Nye,  acting  as  co- 
pastors  to  a  small  number  of  English  families  associated 
together  on  the  Congregationalist  principle,  not  only  with 


ANGLO-DUTCH   LNDEl'KNDENCY  CONTINUED.  579 

the  consent  of  the  kindly  Dutch  authorities,  but  even  with 
tin-  use  of  one  of  their  churches,  and  a  certain  stated  public- 
allowance.  In  the  larger  city  of  Rotterdam  English  Con- 
gregationalists  were  numerous,  and  were  treated  with  equal 
indulgence.  Here,  in  the  year  1633,  in  the  humble  capacity 
of  minister  to  an  English  Congregational ist  church,  but  with 
a  European  fame  for  his  learning  and  his  writings  against 
the  Arminiaus,  died  Dr.  William  Ames,  better  known  by 
his  Latinized  name  of  Amesius.  Conspicuous  as  a  Non- 
conformist at  Cambridge  University  in  the  beginning  of 
the  reign  of  James,  he  had  been  driven  abroad  by  Bancroft's 
severity  as  long  ago  as  1610,  and,  after  living  for  some  time 
at  the  Hague,  he  had  accepted  (1622)  a  professorship  in 
the  University  of  Franeker  in  Friesland.  Here  he  had 
made  his  great  reputation  as  a  teacher  and  a  writer,  so 
that  at  the  Synod  of  Dort  his  place  was  among  the  fore- 
most. But,  his  health  giving  way  at  Franeker,  he  had 
resigned  his  professorship  there  in  1632,  and  accepted 
the  charge  among  his  countrymen  in  Rotterdam.  His  co- 
minister  there  was  no  other  than  Hugh  Peters ;  who  in  fact 
had  formed  the  congregation  before  Ames  came,  and  obtained 
for  it  the  use  of  a  wooden  1  mi  Id  ing  originally  belonging 
to  a  club  or  society  of  Dutch  debaters.  Though  Ames's 
principles  had  never  been  those  of  the  Separatists  or  extreme 
Hrownists,  and  he  might  be  claimed  as  a  semi-Presbyterian, 
lii>  ii"tions  of  Church  discipline  were  really  Congrega- 
tionalist,  and  lie  and  Peters  got  on  well  together  during 
tin-  few  months  of  their  co-ministry.  "  Learn. -d  Amesius," 
said  Peters  long  afterwards,  "  breathed  his  last  breuth 
'  into  my  IKJSOIH,  who  Idt  his  professorship  in  Friesland 
•  to  live  with  me,  localise  of  my  church's  independency 
"  at  Rotterdam,  Ee  waa  my  colleague  and  chosen  brother 
"  to  the  ehuieh  when-  I  was  an  unworthy  pastor."  It  had 
been  Ames's  intention  to  migrate  ut  last  to  New  Midland  ; 
and,  though  ihU  inleniinn  was  fiuMiat'-d  by  hi-  death,  the 
New  Kn;_daiiders  did  have  the  honour  ..!'  n-r.-iviii-  aniMii-  them 
some  of  hi>  family,  with  his  collection  of  books.  Nay,  two 
years  after  Anna's  death.  I'eters  himself  had  left  Rotterdam 


580  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

for  New  England  (1635).  But  the  Eotterdam  church  was  not 
extinguished.  It  was  still  kept  up,  or  indeed  divided  into  two, 
by  the  arrival  from  England,  in  1637-39,  of  Mr.  Jeremiah 
Burroughs,  Mr.  William  Bridge,  and  Mr.  Sidrach  Simpson. 
These  three  Eotterdam  ministers,  with  Goodwin  and  Nye  in 
Arnheim  (unless  we  add  Canne  in  Amsterdam),  were  the 
visible  representatives  of  English  Independency  in  Holland 
in  that  year  1640  to  which  our  narrative  has  brought  down 
the  history  of  the  massive  Independency  of  New  England. 
All  the  five  had  been  regularly  educated  for  the  Church  of 
England.  Four  of  them  were  of  Cambridge  training  ;  only 
Nye  was  from  Oxford. 1 

ENGLISH  INDEPENDENCY  : VI.  ITS  PERSISTENCE  IN  ENGLAND 

(1632—1640). 

Thus,  in  1640,  besides  the  massive  Independency  of  the 
distant  Commonwealth  of  New  England,  developed  there  in 
the  preceding  twenty  years  out  of  the  Eobinsonian  Independ- 
ency which  had  been  nursed  in  Holland,  there  was  still  to  be 
seen  in  Holland  itself  a  vigorous,  though  small,  exhibition  of 
Independency,  partly  transmitted  from  the  Eobinsonian  age, 
partly  of  more  recent  origin.  Add  now,  to  complete  our  esti- 
mate of  the  total  dimensions  of  English  Independency  in  the 
year  1640,  the  fact  that  even  within  England  and  Wales, 
despite  the  utmost  vigilance  of  Laud,  native  Independency 
was  far  from  being  extinct. 

All  through  James's  reign,  while  old  Brown  himself  was 
still  alive,  and  chuckling  in  his  Northamptonshire  living  over 
his  past  handiwork,  there  had  remained  a  pent-up  Brownism 
in  England  and  Wales,  not  sufficiently  drawn  off  by  the 
slender  emigration  to  Holland,  and  breaking  out  sporadically 
in  conventicles  and  field-preachings.  And  so  hitherto  into 
the  reign  of  Charles,  though  there  was  now  the  larger  outlet 
of  the  American  emigration.  Erom  the  very  nature  of  the  case 

1  Steven's  valuable  Account  of  British  don,    IV.    125  —  136;    Hanbury's    Me- 

Churches  in  the  Netherlands,  appended  morials.  I.  257,  and  II.  59,  60  ;  Fuller's 

(pp.  257—344)  to  his  History  of  the  Church  History,  III.  461—465  ;  Neal's 

Scottish  Church  in  Rotterdam  (1833);  Purftans,   II.  317;  Bayle's  Diet.,  art. 

Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches  in  Lon-  Amesius. 


PERSISTENCE  OF  ENGLISH  INDEPENDENCY.  581 

the  records  of  this  transmitted  Brownist  agitation  within  the 
bosom  of  English  society  are  fragmentary  and  discontinuous. 
A  mischievous  nest  of  Separatists  pounced  upon  here;  an 
anonymous  travelling  Anabaptist  preaching  in  some  village 
and  arrested:  that  is  nearly  all !  A  few  names,  however, 
and  momentary  visions  of  Brownist  excitements  in  whole 
districts,  do  emerge  into  light.  Kent,  Norfolk,  Gloucester- 
shire, and  South  Wales,  seem  to  have  abounded  most  in  the 
Brownist  leaven.  In  South  Wales  a  Mr.  Wroth,  rector  of 
Llanvaches  in  Monmouthshire,  began,  about  1634,  an  irregu- 
lar ministry  or  apostleship,  which  at  length  took  the  form  of 
avowed  Congregationalism.  With  his  movement  was  com- 
bined one  by  a  William  Thomas,  a  Welsh  Baptist ;  and  the 
congregations  in  South  Wales  formed  between  them,  and 
counting  a  Mr.  Cradock,  a  Mr.  Symonds,  a  Mr.  Walter,  and 
a  Mr.  Moston,  among  their  ministers,  are  said  to  have  con- 
sisted of  mixed  Baptists  and  Paedobaptists  amicably  united 
and  leaving  Baptism  an  open  question  among  them.  The 
city  of  Bristol  became  a  focus  of  this  Welsh  or  West  of 
Knjrlaml  Independency ;  and  as  one  of  the  first  and  most 
intrepid  Independents  of  that  city  there  is  remembered  a 
widow,  named  Mrs.  Kelly,  who  kept  a  shop  in  High  Street,  and 
afterwards  married  a  Mr.  Hazard,  one  of  the  city  ministers. 
She  did  much  to  assert  and  maintain  Congregationalism  in 
Bristol ;  and,  after  she  became  Mrs.  Hazard,  she  and  her 
Imsliaiid  made  a  habit  of  receiving  in  their  house  poor 
Separatist  families  from  all  parts,  coming  to  Bristol  to  embark 

for  New  England.1 In  London  itself,  under  Laud's  very 

eyes,  Independency  had  wriggled  on.  The  small  London 
congregation  of  Arminian  Baptists,  or  extreme  Separatists, 
formed  about  1611  by  Thomas  Helwisse  and  John  Murton, 
had  indeed  vanished,  or  died,  through  persecution  of  its  mem- 
bers, into  an  obscurity  now  impenetrable.  But  Henry  Jacob's 
subsequent  institution  in  1616  of  the  less  Separatist  and 
more  Calvinistic  church  of  Robinsonian  Independents,  called 
the  first  London  church  of  Independents  proper,  had  survived 
r\  •  n  the  blow  inflicted  on  it  in  1632  in  the  ministry  of  Jacob's 

>  Fletcher'8  Hwtory  of  Independoncy,  III.  lHft-198. 


582  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTORY   OF   HIS   TIME. 

successor  Lathorp  (antt,  p.  544).  When  Lathorp  was  at 
length  released  from  prison  (1634),  he  had  to  emigrate  to 
America ;  but  his  persevering  scantling  of  a  congregation 
found  (1635  or  1636)  a  new  pastor  in  Mr.  Henry  Jessey, 
M.A.  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  who  had  been  a 
parish  minister  in  Yorkshire,  but  had  been  ejected  for  non- 
conformity. Here  and  there  in  London, — in  Queenhithe,  about 
Tower  Hill,  anywhere, — Mr.  Jessey  and  his  little  flock  met, 
dodging  the  Bishop's  pursuivants  as  well  as  they  could ;  and 
they  were  still  extant  in  1640,  engaged  in  the  same  process, 
but  sorely  fatigued  by  it  and  seemingly  at  their  last  gasp. 1 
If  in  this  critical  year,  1640,  there  was,  besides  the  avowed 
Independent  Mr.  Jessey,  any  other  man  in  London,  of  Uni- 
versity training  and  in  the  clerical  profession,  to  whom  we 
may  now  point  as  also  a  partisan  of  Independency  rather 
than  of  Presbyterianism,  it  was  John  Goodwin,  M.A.,  vicar 
of  St.  Stephen's,  Coleman  Street.  This,  at  all  events,  is  the 
point  at  which  he  may  be  best  introduced  to  notice  ;  and,  as 
he  is  to  be  of  some  consequence  henceforth  in  our  History, 
the  reader  will  please  to  distinguish  him  at  once  from  his 
namesake,  Mr.  Thomas  Goodwin,  whom  we  have  left  at 
Arnheim.  John  Goodwin  was  by  no  means  Thomas.  He 
was  a  Norfolk  man  by  birth,  had  been  educated  at  Queen's 
College,  Cambridge,  and  become  a  fellow  of  that  College,  and 
had  been  called  to  the  incumbency  in  Coleman  Street  in 
December  1633,  by  the  choice  of  the  parishioners,  in  succes- 
sion to  their  last  vicar,  the  exiled  Mr.  Davenport,  He  was 
then  exactly  forty  years  of  age.  During  the  seven  years  of 
his  incumbency  that  had  elapsed  in  1640  he  had  become 
more  and  more  a  marked  man  in  London.  He  had  intro- 
duced a  somewhat  new  style  of  preaching,  neither  elaborately 
analytic,  with  intricate  divisions  and  subdivisions,  like  that 
of  many  Puritans,  nor  hot  and  declamatory,  like  that  of 
others,  but  fulfilling  Aristotle's  notion  in  his  Ehetoric  (the 
reference  is  Goodwin's  own)  that  a  real  orator's  anxiety  ought 
not  so  much  to  be  to  persuade,  as  "  to  speak  things  pertinent 
and  proper  to  persuade."  In  other  words,  he  tried  to  make 

1  Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches  in  London,  I.  41—43. 


JOHN  GOODWIN.  583 

the  matter  of  his  discourses  instructive,  reasonable,  and  in- 
teresting, and  he  took  some  pains  with  their  style.  His 
parishioners,  among  whom  were  Alderman  Pennington  and 
other  citizens  of  good  means  and  superior  tastes,  appear 
greatly  to  have  relished  this  intellectual  style  of  preaching, 
and  to  have  become  proud  of  their  pastor.  What  though 
there  had  crept  about  suspicions  that  Mr.  Goodwin  was  not 
altogether  sound  in  the  faith,  that  there  was  a  tendency  in 
his  discourses  to '  Arminianism,  or  even  to  Socinianism  ? 
Those  were  the  mere  whisperings  of  Puritan  ministers  round 
about  him,  envious  of  his  parts  and  his  popularity !  Still 
the  suspicions  had  increased,  and  it  had  become  clear  that 
Mr.  Goodwin  was  not  a  Puritan  of  the  common  type,  but  a 
Puritan  sui  generis,  a  rationalistic  Puritan.  On  the  other 
hand,  whatever  promise  of  Arminianism  there  was  in  him 
had  not  recommended  him  to  Laud.  In  1637,  and  again  in 
1638,  Laud  had  had  him  under  admonition,  and  had  reported 
him  by  name  to  the  King  as  an  unsatisfactory  kind  of  per- 
son, not  obedient  to  rule,  and  with  "some  over-niceties" 
which  might  occasion  trouble;  and  in  1640  he  made  good 
Laud's  anticipation  by  publicly  protesting  and  jpetitiouing, 
with  others,  against  Laud's  tyrannical  new  Canons  passed  in 
the  Convocation  of  that  year.  He  was  then  forty-seven  years 
of  age,  and  had  published  very  little.  That  he  had  by  this 
time  conceived  some  notions  tending  to  Independency  in 
Church  government  is  mainly  an  inference  from  his  subse- 
quent actions ;  but  it  is  a  fair  inference,  if  not  inevitable. 
At  all  events,  in  1640,  the  Vicar  of  St.  Stephen's,  Coleman 
Street,  Alderman  Pennington's  good  friend  and  pastor,  an<! 
a  h-ii-ml  also  of  Hampden's  mother,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hampden, 
then  living  in  Westminster,  was  a  man  likely  to  play  an 
active  part,  should  there  be  occasion,  and  to  go  very  far. 
As  his  JM straits  present  him  in  his  pulpit  dress,  he  was  a 
man  of  calm  general  appearance,  with  a  large  round  head 
hrM  tightly  in  a  skull-cap  behind  the  temples  and  ears,  a 
broad  brow,  a  nose  rather  fine  and  ironical,  and  a  face  alto- 
gether suggesting  ability  and  opinionativeness  blended  with 
ingenuousness  and  composure.  One  would  imagine  him,  as 


584  LIFE   OF  MILTON  AND   HISTOKY   OF   HIS  TIME. 

indeed  he  is  afterwards  found,  a  man  who  would  fight  con- 
tinuously and  hit  hard,  and  yet  always  with  fairness,  some 
care  of  literary  expression,  and  cool  command  of  temper. 
Milton,  I  am  sure,  knew  him  well  already  by  character  and 
reputation,  if  not  personally  ;  and  they  were  to  be  bracketed 
together  most  remarkably  in  their  subsequent  lives.1 

ENGLISH  INDEPENDENCY  : VII.  ITS  REINVIGORATION  (1640—1643). 

With  respect,  therefore,  to  the  theory  of  Church  government 
called  Independency  or  Congregationalism,  the  state  of  the 
case  in  1 640  maybe  thus  summed  up: — There  was  an  unknown 
amount  of  traditional  affection  for  the  theory,  even  where  it 
could  not  be  articulately  stated,  in  the  native  and  popular 
Anti-Prelacy  of  England  itself.  This  vague  and  diffused 
Independency  had  also  a  few  champions  in  known  Separatist 
ministers,  who  had  managed  to  remain  in  England  through 
all  difficulties,  and  perhaps  it  had  well-wishers  in  a  private 
opinionist  or  two,  like  John  Goodwin,  regularly  in  orders  in 
the  Church  of  England ;  but  the  effective  mass  of  English- 
born  Independency  lay  wholly  without  the  bounds  of  England, 
partly  in  little  curdlings  of  Separatists  or  semi -Separatists 
among  the  English  exiles  in  some  of  the  towns  of  Holland, 
but  chiefly,  and  in  most  assured  completeness  both  of  bulk 
and  of  detail,  in  the  incipient  Transatlantic  Commonwealth 
of  New  England.  One  thing,  however,  was  certain  all  the 
while.  Those  two  effective  aggregations  of  English-born  In- 
dependency beyond  the  bounds  of  England, — the  small  Dutch 
scattering  and  the  massive  American  extension, — were  not 
dissociated  from  England,  had  not  learnt  to  be  foreign  to 
her,  but  were  in  correspondence  with  her,  in  constant  survey 
of  her  concerns,  and  attached  to  her  by  such  homeward 
yearnings  that,  on  the  least  opportunity,  the  least  signal 
given,  they  would  leap  back  upon  her  shores. 

The  opportunity  came,  and  the  signal  was  given,  in 
November  1640,  when  the  Long  Parliament  met.  It  was 

1  Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches,  II.  403  et  seo.  ;  Jackson's  Life  of  John  Good- 
win (1822),  pp.  1—55. 


REINVIGOKATION  OF  INDEPENDENCY,  1640-43.  585 

as  if  England  then  proclaimed  to  all  her  exiles  for  opinion 
"  Ye  need  be  exiles  no  more."  Accordingly,  between  that 
date  and  the  meeting  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  in  July 
1643,  we  have  the  interesting  phenomenon  of  a  return  of  some 
of  the  conspicuous  representatives  of  Independency  both  from 
Holland  and  from  New  England. 

From  Holland  there  returned,  in  the  winter  of  1640-1,  five 
out  of  the  six  Congregationalist  ministers  who  had  there 
found  shelter.  Thomas  Goodwin  returned  from  Arnheim,  to 
set  up  a  congregation  in  St.  Dunstan's-in-the-East,  London ; 
1'  hi  lip  Nye  from  Arnheim,  to  become  minister  of  Kimbolton 
parish  in  Hunts ;  William  Bridge  from  Rotterdam,  to  become 
minister  of  Yarmouth,  Norfolk;  and  Jeremiah  Burroughs 
and  Sidrach  Simpson  also  from  Rotterdam,  to  be  preachers 
or  lecturers  in  London.  The  single  remaining  Anglo-Dutch 
Independent  minister  of  any  celebrity,  John  Canne  of 
Amsterdam,  seems  also  to  have  made  a  Hying  visit  to  Lon- 
don, bringing  with  him  for  English  circulation  tracts  in 
favour  of  Independency  and  Separatism,  which  he  had 
written  and  printed  in  Amsterdam.1—  —From  America 
return  was  not  so  easy  as  from  Holland ;  and  the  imme- 
diate effect  upon  America  of  the  changed  state  of  things 
in  England  was  rather  that  of  stopping  the  emigration  to 
New  England  that  had  so  long  been  going  on.  The  effect  in 
ihU  way  was  extraordinary.  All  at  once,  in  1640,  the 
tendency  of  English  Nonconformists  to  America  ceased,  and 
this  because  the  promise  of  a  reform  in  the  Church  and  State 
at  home  made  "  all  men,"  as  Winthrop  said,  "  to  stay  in  Eng- 
land in  expectation  of  a  new  world."  American  historians  even 
tell  us  that  not  till  after  the  lapse  of  a  century  and  a  quarter 
from  1640  was  the  emigration  from  the  mother-country  to 
New  England  resumed  to  any  perceptible  extent,  and  that  the 
growth  of  population  in  New  England  during  all  that  while 
was  but  the  native  increase  of  the  21,000  or  22,000  KM-- 

»  Baillie  speak*,  under  date  "  Lon-  tion  with  himself  and  others  ;  t 

don,    March  15,    1640-1  "   (I.   811),   of  four  months  after  the  meeting  of  the 

".»//  the  EnKliah  minuter*  of  Holland  Long  Parliament.     I  do  not  think  he 

who  are  for  the  New  England  way "  as  included  Canne,   hut  only  the  other 

then  already  returned  and  in  convorwi-  five. 


586  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

lish  originally  imported  between  1620  and  1640.  But  from 
1. 640,  we  are  also  told,  there  even  set  in  a  return  current,  which 
did  not  cease  to  flow  for  that  same  century  and  a  quarter, 
so  that,  in  that  period,  more  persons  passed  back  from  New 
England  to  the  mother-country  than  went  out  from  the 
mother-country  to  New  England.  We  are  concerned  here  only 
with  the  earliest  of  these  restorations  to  England  of  men  who 
had  tasted  the  transatlantic  world.  Vane,  the  young  ex-Gover- 
nor of  Massachusetts,  may,  in  courtesy,  head  the  list,  though 
his  return  had  been  in  1637,  when  he  had  been  an  American 
for  only  two  years,  and  when  there  was  no  prospect  in  England 
as  yet  of  the  break-up  of  Thorough.  But  next  may  be  named 
Hugh  Peters.  His  return  was  really  symptomatic.  He  was 
deputed  by  the  General  Court  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts 
in  June  1641  to  proceed  to  England,  in  conjunction  with  Mr. 
Thomas  Welde,  minister  of  Eoxbury,  and  William  Hibbens,  a 
merchant  of  Boston,  "upon  some  weighty  occasions,"  i.e.  to 
make  some  arrangements  with  English  creditors  of  the  colony, 
but  at  the  same  time  to  congratulate  the  popular  chiefs  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  and  offer  them  any  advice  that  might  be 
required  "  for  the  settling  of  the  right  form  of  Church 
discipline."  Both  he  and  Welde  meant  to  return  to  New 
England,  but  neither  of  them  ever  did;  Peters,  in  fact,  very 
soon  after  his  arrival,  being  lured  into  Parliamentary  employ- 
ment, and  sent,  first  of  all,  as  preacher  and  general  agent  into 
Ireland,  then  in  the  beginning  of  its  rebellion.  A  somewhat 
later  re-importation  than  Peters  and  Welde  was  the  poor 
Baptist  wanderer,  Hanserd  Knollys  ;  who,  after  three  years  of 
knocking  about  in  New  England,  had  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  might  as  well  be  knocked  about  in  old  England, 
and  came  back  for  a  long  futurity  of  that  experience.  He 
arrived  in  London,  in  great  poverty,  Dec.  1641,  and  took  up 
some  kind  of  domicile  in  Tower  Hill,  nominally  to  teach  a 
few  boys,  but  with  an  eye  to  furtive  preaching.  Thus  by 
the  end  of  1641  there  were  at  least  three  New  England 
ministers  back  in  the  British  Islands.  These,  however,  were 
but  the  harbingers  of  an  eager  flight  of  many  more  New 
Englanders  back  to  the  mother-land,  some  for  permanent 


IM  IN\ KiORATION  OF   INDKI'KNDENCY,  1640-43.  587 

stay,  others  merely  on  temporary  visits.  One  or  two  more 
ministers  were  among  them  :  Imt  the  majority  were  laymen, 
either  heads  or  younger  scions  of  leading  families  in  the 
c«>l..nies.  New  England  historians  tell  us  of  Winthrops, 
\Vinslows,  Sedgwicks,  Stoujjhtons,  Fenwicks,  Downings, 
Mathers,  Aliens,  and  others,  who  came  over  to  England 
in  this  way,  and  even  performed  parts  of  some  consequence 
in  the  Parliamentary  service-,  or  afterwards  in  the  service  of 
the  Protectorate ;  and  they  dwell  with  natural  pride  on  the 
fact  that  some  of  the  best  of  these  were  strictly  of  New 
England  breeding,  the  earliest  students  and  graduates  of 
Harvard  College,  Massachusetts.1 

Even  had  there  been  no  return  in  1641  of  the  five 
Independent  English  ministers  from  Holland,  and  no  begin- 
ning in  that  year  of  a  movement  back  from  the  New  England 
colonies,  there  would  doubtless,  within  that  year,  have  been 
an  indigenous  reappearance,  in  England,  of  the  theory  of 
Independency.  For  the  English  instinct  of  religious  Separa- 
tism was  irrepressible,  and  after  the  meeting  of  the  Long 
Parliament  the  practice  of  Separatism  had  been  openly  re- 
vived. As  that  event  had  been  a  signal  to  the  Puritan  exiles 
in  Holland  and  New  England  that  they  might  return,  so  it 
was  construed  into  a  proclamation  that  the  long-suppressed 
Separatists  at  home  might  come  out  of  their  hiding-holes. 
Thus,  in  London  and  its  suburbs,  where  in  the  previous  year 
the  i mly  congregation  of  Separatists  distinctly  recorded  as 
existing  was  Mr.  Henry  Jessey's,  there  sprang  up  in  loll, 
unless  l'>isho]>  Hall  was  misinformed,  "  no  fewer  than  four- 
"  score  congregations  of  several  Sectaries,  instructed  by  guides 
"fit  for  them,  eol.l.lers,  t;iil<»rs.  frit  makers,  and  suoh-like 
1 1  Of  one  of  these  conventicles  there  is  a  story  in  the 

.Journals  under  dates  Jan.  16  and  Jan.  18,  1640-1,  or 
within  eleven  w.-.-l^  after  the  opening  of  the  Parliament.  On 
the  first  of  these  days  there  were  brought  before  the  House, 
by  his  Majesty's  command,  six  villains,  named  Kdmund 
Chillendon.  Nicholas  Tvne.  .Inlm  Webb,  Thomas  (limn. 

'  Palfrey,  I.  582-687. 

«  Speech  of  fib)...,,  Hall  in  the  Lord-  ll.!*0. 


588  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Joseph  Ellis,  and  Eichard  Sturges,  who  had  all  been  seized, 
on  the  previous  Sunday,  by  the  constables  and  churchwardens 
of  St.  Saviour's,  Southwark,  in  the  house  of  the  last-named 
Sturges,  "  where  they  said  they  met  to  teach  and  edify  one 
another  in  Christ " ;  and  on  the  second  of  these  days  they 
were  discharged  by  the  Lords  with  a  solemn  admonition  not 
to  do  the  like  again.  There  are  private  accounts,  however, 
of  the  same  incident.  From  these  it  seems  that  the  persons 
arrested  were  really  a  fragment  of  a  stubborn  Independent 
congregation  that  had  been  meeting,  no  one  knew  for  how 
long,  in  Deadman's  Place,  Southwark,  with  a  Mr.  Stephen 
More  for  their  pastor,  and  also  that  the  solemn  admonition 
in  the  Lords  Journals  was  all  but  a  farce.  For,  while  the 
admonition  was  being  given,  or  was  in  preparation,  some  of 
the  Peers,  these  private  accounts  tell  us,  quietly  asked  the 
culprits  where  they  were  to  meet  next  Sunday  ;  and  actually 
three  or  four  of  the  Peers  went  next  Sunday  to  their  meeting, 
heard  two  sermons,  saw  them  receive  the  Lord's  Supper,  and, 
after  contributing  handsomely  to  a  collection  for  the  poor, 
professed  themselves  much  pleased,  and  said  they  would 
come  again.  They  never  did ;  but  what  of  that  ?  Was  it 
not  clear  that,  whatever  Parliament  might  find  it  necessary 
to  say  publicly,  they  were  not  in  a  mood  for  severe  coercion  ? l 
Where  the  practice  of  Independency  existed  to  such  an  extent, 
theorists  for  Independency  were  sure  to  be  forthcoming. 

In  the  winter  of  1640-1  there  were  at  least  two  persons 
in  London  ready  to  raise  the  flag  of  English  Independency 
without  aid  from  Holland  or  America.  These  were  Henry 
Burton  and  John  Lilburne,  known  to  us  hitherto  as,  with 
Prynne,  Bastwick,  and  Dr.  Leighton,  the  prime  personal 
sufferers  under  Laud's  rule.  As  soon  as  the  Long  Parliament 
met,  had  it  not  hastened,  amid  the  applauses  of  all  England, 
to  release  those  five  from  their  several  prisons  with  special 
honours,  and  to  make  some  atonement  to  them  for  their  past 
tortures  ?  Strange  that,  from  the  moment  of  their  restoration 
to  society,  these  associates  in  misfortune  should  be  found  part- 
ing company !  Yet  such  is  the  fact.  Prynne  and  Bastwick 

1  Lords  Journals  of  dates  cited,  and  Hanbury's  Memorials,  II.  66 — 68. 


REINVIGORATION  OF  INDEPENDENCY,  1640-43. 

were  to  become  strenuous  advocates  of  strict  Presbyterianism, 
while  liurton  and  lilburne  were  to  be  voices  for  Separatism 
and  extreme  Independency.  In  Burton's  various  Anti-Prelatic 
writings  before  his  dreadful  punishment  in  1637,  the  Anti- 
Prelacy  had  been  distinctly  of  the  Brownist  or  Separatist 
«<»rt ;  and  so,  when  he  came  back  among  his  parishioners  in 
Friday  Street,  in  March  1640-1,  a  sad,  emaciated  creature, 
of  more  than  sixty,  with  the  scars  of  his  lost  ears  -concealed 
by  his  skull-cap,  it  was  something  beyond  Presbyterianism 
that  might  be  expected  in  his  sermons.  Lilburne,  not  yet 
more  than  twenty-two  years  of  age,  but  the  most  bull-headed 
young  obstinate  that  ever  came  from  the  county  of  Durham, 
had  been  Prynne's  law-clerk,  and  the  offence  for  which  he 
had  been  whipped,  pilloried,  and  imprisoned,  in  163 8, was  that 
of  distributing  his  master's  pamphlets.  In  prison,  however, 
Lilburne  had  been  thinking  for  himself;  and  here  was  one  of 
the  results  :  "  Come  Out  of  Her,  My  People :  or  an  Answer  to  the 
Questions  of  a  Gentlewoman,  a  professor  in  the  Anti-Christian 
Church  of  England,  about  Hearing  tlie  public  Ministers ;  where 
it  is  largely  discussed,  and  proved  to  be  unlawful.  Also  a  Just . 
Apology  for  tlw  way  of  Total  Separation,  commonly  but  falsely 
called  '  Brovmism  ' ;  that  it  is  the  truth  of  God,  though  lightly 
esteemed  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  With  a  challenge  to  dispute 
them  publicly  before  King  and  Council,  to  prove  whatsoever  I 
have  said  at  the  pillory  against  them :  viz.  that  the  calling  of 
them  is  jure  Diaboli,  even  from  the  Devil  himself.  By  me, 
John  Lilburne,  close  Prisoner  in  the  Fleet  for  the  cause  of  Christ. 
Printed  in  the  year  of  hope  of  England's  Purgation  and  the 
Prelates'  Dissolution.  Anno  1639." 

Still  it  cannot  be  said  that  before  the  middle  of  1641 
the  indigenous  Independency  of  England  made  any  great 
show.  The  abundant  Anti-Prelatic  pamphleteering  and  con- 
sultation of  the  first  eight  months  of  the  Long  Parliament 
was,  mostly,  of  a  general  nature.  It  was  directed  to  the 
abolition  of  Episcopacy  and  the  accomplishment  of  some 
kiml  of  Root-and-Branch  Reform  of  the  Church,  but  will  K.I  it 
any  precise  specification  of  the  mechanism  desirable  in  the 
church  as  it  should  be  reformed.  The  war  against  the 


590  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Church  of  England,  one  may  say,  was  mainly  after  the 
manner  of  the  siege  of  Jericho  in  Scripture.  "Ye  shall 
"  compass  the  city,  all  ye  men  of  war,  and  go  round  about 
"  the  city  once.  Thus  shalt  thou  do  six  days.  And  seven 
"  priests  shall  bear  before  the  ark  seven  trumpets  of  rams' 
"  horns ;  and  the  seventh  day  ye  shall  compass  the  city 
"  seven  times,  and  the  priests  shall  blow  with  the  trumpets. 
"  And  it?  shall  come  to  pass,  that  when  they  make  a  long 
"  blast  with  the  ram's  horn,  and  when  ye  hear  the  sound 
"  of  the  trumpet,  all  the  people  shall  shout  with  a  great 
"  shout ;  and  the  wall  of  the  city  shall  fall  down  flat,  and 
"  the  people  shall  ascend  up,  every  man  straight  before 
"  him"  (Joshua  vi.  3 — 5).  Milton's  first  three  Anti-Episcopal 
pamphlets,  for  example,  written  between  April  and  July 
1641,  are  characteristic  in  this  respect.  They  are  shoutings 
of  a  layman  expecting  the  fall  of  the  besieged  Jericho,  but 
with  no  more  definite  preadvertisement  of  the  policy  that 
should  follow  the  fall  than  was  implied  in  the  fact  that 
the  priests  who  were  loudest  in  blowing  the  rams'  horns  for 
the  surrender  were  Milton's  five  Presbyterian  friends,  the 
Smectymnuans.  Milton  had  not  then  discussed  with  himself 
the  claims'  of  the  two  competing  Anti-Prelatic  theories  of 
Presbyterianism  and  Independency.  More  remarkable  still 
is  a  confession  of  Richard  Baxter,  who  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age  in  1641,  and  then  a  Puritan  minister  at  Kid- 
derminster. He  confesses  that  till  that  year  he  had  "  never 
"  thought  what  Presbytery  or  Independency  was,  nor  ever 
"  spake  with  a  man  who  seemed  to  know  it."  l  Baxter  and 
his  acquaintances  were,  certainly,  more  in  the  dark  than 
they  ought  to  have  been ;  and  there  were  others  who  had 
the  whole  prior  history  of  the  dispute  between  Presby- 
tery and  Independency  at  their  fingers'  ends.  Still,  his 
testimony  is  valuable  as  proving  that  till  the  middle  of 
1641  indiscriminate  An ti- Prelacy  was  the  prevailing 
mood  of  the  English  mind,  and  the  distinction  between 
Presbyterianism  and  Independency  was  yet  caviare  to  the 
general. 

1  Baxter's  True  Hist,  of  Councils  Enlarged,  as  quoted  in  Hanbury,  II.  69. 


KKINVKIOKATIMN   «>K  INI  >KI'K.\  I  >KN«  V,  1640-43.  591 

What  rectified  this  ?  What  first  made  the  Presbyterians 
in  Kngland,  and  their  advisers  the  Scots,  aware  that  there 
might  be.  some  obstacles  to  that  triumphant  establishment 

iict  Presbytery  iu  England  to  which  they  were  looking 

forward  ? In  the  first  place,  the  return  from  Holland  of 

Messrs.  Goodwin,  Nye,  Bridge,  Burroughs,  and  Simpson  !  As 
early  as  March  1640-1,  we  find  Uaillie,  and  his  colleagues 
of  the  Scottish  deputation  then  in  London,  somewhat  dis- 
composed by  the  arrival  of  those  five.  They  found  them 
excellent  men,  likeable  for  many  things,  and  especially  for 
their  declarations  in  conversation  that  they  had  as  little 
sympathy  with  extreme  Separatists  and  mere  sectarian 
lil'n -k heads  as  the  English  Presbyterians  or  the  Scots  had; 
but  still  there  was  a  possibility  of  trouble  from  their  own 

regationalist  scruples.1 Next,  however,  there  came  a 

bomb  from  Burton.  The  reader  may  remember  the  Protesta- 
tion, or  Resolution  for  the  Common  Safety,  adopted  with  such 
enthusiasm  by  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  circulated 
by  them  among  the  people  at  large  for  signature,  in  the  crisis 
of  alarm  occasioned  by  the  Army  Plot  in  May  1641  (ante, 
pp.  186-7).  Well,  seizing  on  the  words  of  this  Protestation 
by  which  those  that  signed  it  swore  to  maintain  "  the  true 
"  Reformed  Religion  expressed  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
"  of  England,"  Burton  sent  forth,  anonymously,  from  his 
study  in  Friday  Street,  a  tract  of  twenty-one  pages,  entitled 
"  The  Protestation  Protested :  or  A  Short  Remonstrance,  show- 
ing what  is  princij;"/!?/  squired  of  all  those  that  have  or  do 
take  the  last  Parliamentary  Protestation'1  The  tenor  of  this 
tract  may  be  conceived.  Hurt  mi  wanted  to  know  precisely 
what  \\.i-  ni'-aiit  in  the  phrase  of  the  Protestation  that  has 
heen  quoted,  and  pointed  out  its  perplexing  ambiguity  to 
Puritan  cunsei.-nco  in  such  matters  as  the  liturgy,  discipline, 
and  ceremonies.  So  far  lie  had  a  following  amon^  th»- 
Presbyterians,  who  indeed  made  the  same  complaint  about 
tlit-  Pint.  -Malion,  and  obtained  from  Parliament  a  sat  is!'.. 
•  •xplanatioii  ••!'  it.  But  tin-  end  "I  P.urt"n's  tract  was  a 
Ma/.-  of  peeuliar  or  IJurtoniaii  Independency.  "A  particular 

»  Baillie.  1.311. 


592  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

"  church,  or  congregation,  rightly  collected  and  constituted, 
"  consists,"  he  said,  "  of  none  but  such  as  are  visible  living 
"  members  of  Christ  the  Head,  and  visible  saints  under  Him, 
"  the  one  and  only  King  of  Saints ;  but  so  is  it  not  with  a 
"  National  Church."  "  Let  it  be  the  first  degree  of  Kefor- 
"  mation,"  he  said,  "  to  begin  and  call  forth  all  those  unto 
"  several  congregations  who  are  fitted  and  who  desire  to 
"  draw  near  to  Christ  in  a  holy  communion."  "  If  a  State," 
"  he  said,  "  will  set  up  a  National  Church,  wherein  many 
"  things,  out  of  reason  of  State,  are  tolerated,  and  pre- 
"  scribed  for  '  order  sake/  as  they  call  it,  and  if  there  be 
"  such  a  necessity,  necessity  hath  no  law ;  but  let  not  this 
"  exclude  and  bar  out  the  free  use  of  such  congregations 
"  whereof  the  spiritual  commonwealth  of  Israel  consisteth." 
"  If  Christians  living  in  a  parish,"  he  said,  "  shall  find  just 
"  cause  of  separating  themselves  .  .  .  shall  any  ministers  be 
"  so  unchristian  as  to  envy  this  ? "  "  As  for  the  manner  of 
"  government  of  a  National  Church,"  he  said,  "because  it  hath 
"  no  pattern  in  the  Scripture  now  under  the  Gospel,  who  can 
"  herein  prescribe  or  advise  anything  ?  Let  it  be  what  it  will, 
"  so  as  still  a  due  respect  be  had  to  those  congregations  and 
"  churches  which  desire  an  exemption."  These  sentences  give 
the  pith  of  Burton's  views.  In  other  words,  he  had  such  strong 
objections  to  a  National  Church  of  any  kind  that  he  did  not 
care  to  inquire  what  kind  might  be  best ;  but  if,  on  grounds 
of  political  expediency,  it  should  appear  inevitable  that  a 
National  Church  should  be  set  up,  with  a  division  of  the  land 
into  parishes,  and  a  minister  of  the  National  Church  in  every 
parish  .paid  by  the  State,  at  least  let  there  be  a  liberty  of 
dissent,  and  of  separate  congregational  organization  to  dis- 
senters at  their  own  expense  I1 There  is  proof  that  Burton's 

tract  was  much  read,  and  made  a  powerful  impression.  Par- 
liament itself  took  notice  of  it  by  imprisoning  the  printer  for 
six  weeks  (July  1 0 — Aug.  2  5)2 ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 

1  Ample    extracts     from     Burton's  pendents    and   their   opponents,    with 

Tract   are    given    in    Hanbury's    Me-  much  criticism,  and  a  slight  thread  of 

morials  of  Independency,   11.  69 — 77.  connecting  narrative. 
This  work,  indeed,  consists  of  masses  2  Commons  Journals,  July  10,  24-5, 

of  verbatim  extracts  from  the  whole  1641. 
series  of  tracts  by  early  English  Inde- 


KKIXVIGORATION  OF  INDEPENDENCY,  1640-43. 

that  tin-  Presbyterian  ministers  of  London  had  it  in  view, 
as  well  as  the  mildrr  Independency  of  the  five  returned 
ministers  from  Holland,  when  they  wrote  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Scottish  Kirk  at  its  meeting  that  autumn, 
requesting  a  distinct  opinion  from  that  venerable  body  on 
the  lawfulness  of  Congregationalism  in  any  form  or  degree. 
What  the  answer  of  the  Scottish  Kirk  was  we  saw  some  time 
ago  (ante,  pp.  288—290). Just  when  the  talk  of  the  re- 
turned Anglo-Dutch  Congregationalists  had  sufficiently  ven- 
tilated the  question  of  a  mild  Congregationalism,  and  Burton's 
tract  had  sent  a  blaze  of  more  startling  Brownism  through 
the  air,  there  arrived  Hugh  Peters,  Thomas  Welde,  and 
others,  as  the  accredited  ambassadors  of  the  Independency  of 
New  England.  This  thickened  the  controversy ;  and, 
accordingly,  through  the  rest  of  1641,  there  is  evidence  of 
a  growing  fear,  on  the  part  of  the  English  Presbyterians,  of 
the  chances  of  some  success  for  "  Congregationalism,"  or 
"  Brownism,"  or  "  the  New  England  way."  Presbyterianism 
availed  itself  of  all  its  existing  resources  of  reply,  and  set 
new  pens  to  work  Treatises  by  Paget  of  Amsterdam  and 
other  Anglo -Dutch  Presbyterians  were  imported;  and  a 
good  deal  was  done  by  circulating  and  re-editing  certain 
treatises  of  a  John  Ball,  a  poor  Staffordshire  curate  and 
Nonconformist,  who  had  died  in  1640  little  heard  of,  but 
whose  studies  of  the  question  of  Separatism  had  been  rather 
extensive.  In  particular,  an  answer  of  Ball's  to  two  books 
of  John  Canne,  the  Amsterdam  Brownist,  was  edited  and 
published  by  Simeon  Ashe,  with  a  prefatory  epistle  by  Ashe 
and  four  other  Presbyterian  Divines.1  To  Burton's  Protesta- 
tion Protested  there  were,  of  course,  special  answers. 
Besides  a  furious  one  in  the  Prelatic  interest,  publi-lud 
anonymously,  but  attributed,  on  the  evidence  of  the  style, 
to  Bishop  Hall,  there  was  one  in  the  Presbytx-iian  interest 
by  John  (Iciee,  M.A.,  preacher  at  Tewkesbury.  But  of  all 
the  Pro-Presbytery  and  Anti-Independency  publicatioi 
the  hour  the  most  noteworthy,  both  for  a  certain  fluent 
sj.iritcdness  or  animosity  in  the  writing  ii -••!!',  and  ln-cause 

»  Wood'*  Athon»,  II.  670-673. 

VOL.  ii  -'  q 


594  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  the  subsequent  notoriety  of  the  writer,  was  one  of  56 
quarto  pages,  entitled,  "Reasons  against  the  Independent 
Government  of  particular  Congregations :  As  also  against  the 
Toleration  of  such  Churches  to  be  erected  in  this  Kingdom : 
Together  with  an  Answer  to  such  Reasons  as  are  commonly 
alleged  for  such  a  Toleration :  Presented,  in  all  humility,  to 
the  Honourable  House  of  Commons  now  assembled  in 
Parliament,  by  Tho  :  Edwards,  Minister  of  the  Gospel.  1641." 
Let  the  reader  put  his  mark  upon  this  Thomas  Edwards. 
He  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge,  and  had  graduated 
M. A.  there  in  1609;  had  been  incorporated  in  the  same 
degree  at  Oxford  in  1623;  and  had  been  a  Nonconformist 
lecturer  in  Hertfordshire  and  other  midland  counties,  and 
also  in  London.  And  now  in  1641,  when  he  was  between 
fifty  and  sixty  years  of  age,  he  flashed  out  in  this  pamphlet. 
"  Considering,"  he  says  in  his  Introduction,  "  how  many  are 
"  of  that  [the  Independent]  way,  some  inhabiting  in  this 
"  kingdom,  others  who  are  come  over  into  England  on  pur- 
"  pose,  being  sent  as  messengers  of  their  Churches  to 
"  negotiate  on  that  behalf;  and  observing  how  diligently 
"  and  close  they  follow  it,  by  daily  attending  at  West- 
"  minster,  by  insinuating  themselves  into  the  company  of 
"  sundry  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  by  preaching 
"  often  in  Westminster,  the  more  to  ingratiate  themselves 
"  and  their  cause ;  printing  also  their  desire  of  a  Toleration 
"  for  Independent  Government,  and  that  with  casting  of  dirt 
"  upon  the  reformation  and  government  of  this  National 
"  Church,  whatever  it  may  be, — as  witness  The  Protestation 
11  Protested :  I,  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  a  sufferer  for  it 
"  these  many  years  past  ....  have  thought  it  my  duty  .  ,  . 
"  to  print  these  Eeasons  at  this  time,  that  so,  when  any 
"  of  these  Petitions  come  to  be  propounded  in  the  House  of 
"  Commons,  under  specious  pretences  and  fair  pretexts,  there 
"  may  by  these  Eeasons  appear  a  snake  under  the  green  grass." 
With  the  same  spirited  verbosity  he  goes  on  to  predict  all 
kinds  of  horrors  from  Independency,  or  the  least  toleration 
of  it  in  England.  His  pamphlet  appears  to  have  circulated 
widely,  and  to  have  been  particularly  stinging  to  the  Inde- 
pendents. At  all  events,  among  the  replies  from  that  side  to 


KKINVIGORATION  OF  INDEPENDENCY,  1640-43. 


595 


tli.-  Presbyterian  attacks  n«w  1  Binning  to  be  numerous,  Mr. 
Edwards  was  honoured  with  one  all  to  himself.  What  Mr. 
Edwards,  however,  did  not  like,  for  it  set  society  on  the  grin, 
was  that  his  antagonist  was  a  woman.  "  TJie  Justification 
nf  the,  Independent  Churches  of  Christ :  being  an  Answer  to 
Mr.  Edwards  his  Book,  which  he  hath  written  against  the 
Government  of  Christ's  Church,  and  Toleration  of  Christ's 
public  Worship ;  briefly  declaring  that  the  Congregations  of 
the  Saints  ought  not  to  have  Dependency  in  government  upon 
any  other,  or  direction  in  worship  from  any  other,  than 
Christ,  their  Head  and  Lawgiver.  By  Katherine  Chidley. 
1641."  Such  was  the  title  of  the  Reply,  of  81  pages,  that 
astonished  Mr.  Edwards.  People  wondered  who  this  she- 
Brownist,  Katherine  Chidley,  was,  and  did  not  quite  lose  their 
interest  in  her  when  they  found  that  she  was  an  oldish 
woman,  and  a  member  of  some  hole-and-corner  congregation 
in  London.  Indeed  she  put  her  nails  into  Mr.  Edwards  with 
some  effect.  In  the  close  of  her  pamphlet  she  offers  to  have 
the  argument  out  with  him,  if  he  chooses,  in  a  debate  before 
a  jury  of  listeners  impartially  selected.  "  If  you  overcome 
"  me,"  she  adds,  rather  unfairly,  "  your  conquest  will  not  be 
"  great,  for  I  am  a  poor  woman,  and  unmeet  to  deal  with 
"  you."  Mr.  Edwards  did  not  accept  the  proposal ;  but 
Mrs.  Chidley's  pamphlet  left  him  fuming,  and  we  shall  see 
he  kept  her  in  mind.1 

And  so  we  are  brought  to  the  year  1642.  In  that  year 
the  difference  between  Presbyterian  ism  and  Independency 
was  no  longer  a  mystery  in  England.  Ball's  tracts  on  tin- 
one  side,  and  Bui-tun's  I ' rotestation  Protested  on  the  other,  had 
wakened  Baxter  on  the  subject.  There  is  proof  that  Mil  tun 
ii  ad  read  the  Protestation  Protested,  and  the  reply  to  it 
whirl i  was  suspected  to  be  Bishop  Hall's;2  and  it  is  observable 


1  Hanbury's  Memorial*,  II.  77-117  . 
where  there  are  abridgments  of  tho 

ii   j.ainphluta  named,   with 
batim  extract*, 

No   more  but  of  one  [libellous 

"pamphlet  f  P. 1 1  lean 

! I     i ]   rv 

mber !  What  if  I  put  him  in  min-l 
>ne  more?   What  more 


t    tho   Remonstrant  in  many 
•likelihoods    may    be    thought     UM 

'author'  l>'l  hi- nover  see  a  pamphlet 
'  entitled.  after  his  <.\vn  fashi"ii,  A  Sur- 

><•:"   •    Libel,  •  77.    Protatat Pro 

'tfjttfii'?    Tho  child  doth  n<>t  n 
1  prewly  refljfure  therwageof  hih  fat  In  r 
it  book  resemble*  tho  style  of 


596  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

that  the  fourth  of  Milton's  Anti-Episcopal  tracts,  The  Reason  of 
Church  Government,  published  in  January  or  February  1641-2, 
is  not,  like  its  predecessors,  a  mere  argument  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  Prelacy,  but  is  an  express  discussion  of  the  farther 
question  of  the  form  of  Church  Government  to  be  substituted 
for  Prelacy.  That  pamphlet,  as  we  saw,  may  be  classed  as, 
in  the  main,  a  Presbyterian  pamphlet,  as  if  Milton,  when  he 
wrote  it,  were  still  in  sympathy  with  his  Smectymnuan 
friends  and  the  Presbyterian  party  generally ;  but  a  certain 
vague  melting  towards  Independency  may  be  discerned  in  the 
language  throughout.  It  is  the  parochial  consistory,  or  court 
of  each  individual  parochial  congregation,  consisting  of  the 
pastor,  lay-elders,  and  deacons,  acting  for  and  even  in  consulta- 
tion with  the  entire  body  of  the  members,  that  Milton 
dwells  on ;  it  is  this  that  he  thinks  of  and  describes  as  the 
essential  atom  of  the  Presbytery  he  contends  for  ;  and,  though 
he  does  have  in  view  the  consociation  or  "  conglobing  "  of  the 
parochial  or  congregational  Presbyteries  over  a  whole  land 
by  a  gradation  of  larger  consistories,  or  at  least  by  occasional 
national  assemblies,  he  is  hazy  in  this  part  of  the  scheme, 
and  still  seems  to  leave  to  every  congregation  within  itself 
the  real  power  of  Church  censure.  In  this,  as  well  as  in  his 
obvious  indifference  in  the  same  pamphlet  to  the  alarms  of 
his  stricter  contemporaries  about  Brownism,  Anabaptism,  and 
the  increase  of  sects,  one  traces  the  effects  of  his  recent 
readings  of  tracts  from  the  Independent  side,  though  these 
had  not  wholly  won  him  over.  Nor  is  there  much  difference, 
I  think,  between  Milton's  mood  so  expressed  and  the  mood  of 
Lord  Brooke  in  his  famous  Discourse  on  Episcopacy,  or  of 
Lord  Saye  and  Sele  in  his  Parliamentary  speeches  at  the 
same  date.  The  Separatists  found  far  kindlier  judges  and 
interpreters  in  these  Lords  than  among  the  Presbyterians. 
In  short,  in  1642,  though  Presbyterianism  in  England  was 
enormously  in  the  ascendant,  though  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  Parliamentarians  throughout  the  country, 
and  of  their  exponents  in  Parliament,  had  made  up  their 

"the  Remonstrant  in  those  idioms  of  "light." — Milton's  Apology  for  Smec- 
"  speech  wherein  he  seems  most  to  de-  tymnuus. 


KKINVIGORATIOX  OP  INDEPENDENCY,  1640-43.  597 

minds  for  the  establishment  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  Eng- 
land as  near  as  might  be  to  the  Scottish  pattern,  though 
the  citizens  of  London  in  the  mass  were  passionately  Pres- 
byterian, and  there  were  but  two  or  three  out  of  all  the 
120  parish-ministers  of  the  city  suspected  of  Independency, 
yet  the  existence  of  a  certain  amount  of  opinion  in 
favour  of  Independency,  and  consequently  of  a  demand 
for  some  toleration  for  Independency  in  the  system  to 
be  established,  was  no  longer  dubious.  From  this  year 
too  we  may  reckon  the  permanent  acceptance  of  the  name 
Independency  as  designating  the  thing.  The  term  had  been 
in  occasional  use  among  the  Independents  themselves  for 
thirty  years,  and  indeed  was  a  very  natural  growth  out  of 
the  phrases  "  mutual  independency  of  particular  churches," 
"  independency  of  particular  churches  on  any  superior  or 
synodical  authority,"  which  they  had  so  often  to  employ  in 
explaining  their  system.  Hence,  in  recent  pamphlets  on 
both  sides,  a  tendency  to  concurrence  in  this  name,  though 
Brownism,  Separatism,  and  the  like,  remained  convenient 
synonyms  for  those  who  wanted  words  of  opprobrium.  Now, 
however,  Independency  became  the  generic  name,  or  name 
in  chief,  and  there  was  some  recognition  of  the  shades  and 
degrees  of  opinion  which  that  one  name  might  include. 
Perhaps  the  most  frequent  name  for  the  middle  or  moderate 
kind  of  Independency, — and  it  was  with  this  that  the  Pres- 
byterians foresaw  their  chief  battle  would  be, — was  "  the 
New  Ki inland  way."  For  there  was  now  more  and  more 
a  perception  of  the  power  possessed  by  Independency  in 
tin-  fjict  that  it  was  the  established  Church  polity  already  of 
an  Knglish  population  of  22,000  or  23,000  souls,  with  some 
seventy  or  eighty  ministers  among  them,  of  Cambridge  and 
( )\tni,l  training,  across  the  Atlantic.  Far  off  as  this  popu- 
lation was,  Belf-organized  and  self-governed  as  it  was,  it  was 
still  a  jM.rti..n  of  the  realm  of  England.  Nay,  was  it  not 
clear  that  this  population  had  not  abnegated  its  interest  in 
the  Church  concerns  of  En -land,  l.ut  was  trying  to  act  in 
those  concerns  by  correspondence  and  through  emissaries  ? 
Tlii<  liad  l.r.-n  visible  since  the  arrival  of  Messrs.  Peters 


598 


LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 


and  Welde  in  the  preceding  year;  but  throughout  1642  it 
became  more  and  more  apparent.  The  letter-writing  and 
the  coming  and  going  between  England  and  New  England 
were  brisk  through  all  that  year ;  and  before  the  end  of  it 
the  New  England  Church  had  spoken  out  her  sentiments, 
in  what  might  be  called  an  authoritative  manner,  through 
the  most  eminent  of  all  her  ministers,  Mr.  John  Cotton  of 
Boston.  "  The  True  Constitution  of  a  Particular  Visible 
Church  proved  ly  Scripture  "  was  the  title  of  a  treatise  sent 
over  by  Cotton,  and  published  with  his  name  in  London, 
in  1642.  It  was  much  read,  and  it  passed  into  a  second 
edition,  with  a  changed  title,  within  a  year ;  and  Cotton 
became  from  that  moment  the  exponent  of  moderate 
Independency  whom  the  Presbyterians  felt  themselves  most 
bound  to  answer.1 

An  important  change  in  the  political  system  of  the  New 
England  colonies  was  accomplished  in  May  1643,  only  a 
week  or  two  before  the  convention  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly.  This  event,  the  news  of  which  must  have 
reached  England  just  as  the  Assembly  was  beginning  its 
work,  does  not  seem  to  have  excited  much  attention.  Yet 
not  only  was  it  the  first  step  towards  the  formation  of  the 
future  Eepublic  of  the  United  States,  but  even  on  the 
English  Church  questions  which  the  Westminster  Assembly 
had  been  called  to  debate  it  was  not  to  be  without  some 
immediate  bearing. 

The  sudden  stoppage  of  the  immigration  from  England,  and 
the  commencement  even  of  a  return-wave,  had  strengthened 
in  the  New  Englanders  the  sense  that  they  were  in  fact  a 
distinct  commonwealth,  depending  on  themselves  for  their 
future,  and  bound  to  look  after  that  future  by  wise  pro- 
visions. They  were  more  dispersed  along  the  coast-line  than 
they  had  originally  intended;  they  had  had  troublesome  wars 


1  Hanbury's  Memorials,  II.  117—166. 
bletcher  (Hist,  of  Independency,  III. 
34)  finds  the  first  distinct  use  of  the 
term  Independent  in  its  ecclesiastical 
sense  in  a  tract  of  Henry  Jacob,  pub- 
lished in  1612  ;  but  it  seems  to  me 
likely  that  a  search  among  the  writings 


of  Robinson  and  the  other  early  Anglo- 
Dutch  Independents  would  detect 
earlier,  or  contemporary,  instances. 
Hanbury  (II.  49)  shows  that  the  name 
Independency  had  certainly  not  become 
general  in  1640. 


RKINVIGORATION  OF  INDEPENDENCY,  1640-43.  599 

with  the  Indians,  and  they  were  sure  to  have  more  of  the 
samr;  there  were  French  settlements  to  the  north-east  of 
tin-in,  and  Dutch  and  Swedish  to  the  south-west,  with  some 
of  which,  or  with  all  together,  there  might  be  complications. 
Knjund  was  distant  and  engrossed  in  her  own  civil  strife: 
what  security  was  there  unless  in  some  political  union  of  all 
the  parts  of  New  England  among  themselves  ?  Hence,  after 
much  negotiation,  a  formal  agreement  at  Boston  (May  19, 
1643)  in  a  body  of  Articles,  establishing  a  CONFEDERACY  OF 
THI  FOUR  COLONIES  OF  PLYMOUTH,  MASSACHUSETTS,  CON- 
NECTICUT, AND  NEW  HAVEN,  under  the  name  of  THE  UNITED 
COLONIES  OF  NEW  ENGLAND,  and  settling  the  Constitution  of 
that  Confederacy.  Its  executive  for  all  the  purposes  of  the 
confederacy,  as  distinct  from  the  independent  governments 
<>t  the  colonies  severally,  was  to  consist  of  a  Court  of  eight 
( 'nmmissioners,  two  from  each  colony  and  duly  qualified  by 
church-membership  in  that  colony.  This  Court,  with  one  of 
its  own  body  elected  by  itself  as  President,  was  to  meet  once 
a  year,  or  oftener,  as  might  be  required,  in  some  principal 
tn\vn  of  the  colonies  in  succession,  but  with  a  preference 
of  frequency  to  Boston.  The  first  Commissioners,  elected 
in  1643,  were  Edward  Winslow  and  William  Collier  for 
Plymouth,  John  Winthrop  and  Thomas  Dudley  for  Massa- 
chusetts, George  Fenwick  and  Edward  Hopkins  for  Con- 
necticut, and  Theophilus  Eaton  and  Thomas  Gregson  fm- 
New  Haven ;  and,  by  their  election,  Winthrop  was  called 
t"  the  first  Presidency.1 

Of  course,  this  bold  union  of  the  Colonies  among  them- 
selves was  liable  to  be  questioned  by  the  Crown  and  Parlia- 
iii.  nt  of  England;  and,  to  justify  and  explain 'it,  there  had 
to  be  a  new  despatch  of  accredited  agents  to  London.  Not 
as  one  of  these,  but  on  an  errand  of  his  own,  connected  with 
theirs  and  yet  a  little  in  conflict  with  it  at  first,  there  came 
over  one  more  American,  whose  return,  though  it  was  to  lx» 
I. ut  t'nr  a  temporary  visit,  deserves  particular  notice. 

The  reader  remembers  our  distinction  between  the  F«mr 
<  '"l«nies  and  certain  outlying  I'lant.itinns  <>n  their  bnnli-rs. 

i  Pttlfrey,  I.  623-634,  and  II. 


600  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Well,  of  those  outlying  Plantations  only  one  patch  came 
within  the  new  Confederacy, — that  patch  of  the  present  New 
Hampshire  where  there  were  the  rising  towns  of  Exeter, 
Dover,  &c.  The  inhabitants  of  those  settlements  had  re- 
cently attached  themselves  to  Massachusetts,  and  came  into 
the  Confederacy  as  part  of  that  colony.  But  there  remained 
positively  excluded  from  the  Confederacy  the  Plantations 
farther  to  the  north-east,  in  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Maine,  and  also  the  Plantations  south-west  of  Massachusetts 
and  Plymouth,  in  the  Narraganset  Bay  country,  interposed 
between  these  colonies  and  Connecticut  and  New  Haven. 
Their  exclusion  was  deliberate.  The  Confederate  New 
Englanders  looked  askance  upon  those  Plantations,  as 
running  a  different  course  from  themselves  "  both  in  their 

O 

ministry  and  civil  administration,"  and  hoped  either  to  tame 
them  into  conformity  by  refusing  to  traffic  with  them,  or  to 
bring  them  into  submission  by  actual  force.  The  complaint 
against  the  Maine  people  was  partly  that  there  was  a  Eoyalist 
and  Prelatic  leaven  among  them,  and  partly  that  they  had 
given  refuge  to  heretical  Separatists  like  Wheelwright  and 
Hanserd  Knollys.  The  complaint  against  the  Narraganset  Bay 
people  was  even  more  indignant.  There,  in  Portsmouth  and 
Newport,  the  two  towns  of  Aquetnet  or  Ehode  Island,  were 
the  wrecks  of  the  dispersed  Antinomians  or  Hutchinsonians 
of  Boston,  increased  by  other  restless  recruits,  and  struggling 
hard  with  their  own  dissensions.  There,  at  the  head  of  the 
Bay,  close  to  this  two-towned  chaos  of  Ehode  Island,  which 
he  had  himself  induced  thither,  but  with  his  own  little  chaos 
of  Providence  immediately  around  him,  was  the  arch-Indi- 
vidualist, Eoger  Williams.  He  was  the  most  lovable  of  men, 
certainly ;  he  and  the  good  and  orderly  Winthrop  of  Massa- 
chusetts could  not  but  like  each  other,  and  kept  up  a  friendly 
correspondence,  despite  their  differences ;  and  he  had  been  of 
excellent  service  to  the  colonies,  hard  as  had  been  their  treat- 
ment of  him,  by  his  generous  and  laborious  negotiations  for 
them,  more  than  once,  with  his  pets  the  Indians.  Still  what 
an  experiment  he  was  bent  on, — that  of  the  organization  of  a 
community  on  the  unheard-of  principle  of  absolute  religious 


ROOEK   \VII  I.IAMS  IN  ENGLAND.  001 

lilx -i  t y  combined  with  perfect  civil  democracy  !  Organize  ? 
Williams  and  organization  were  a  contradiction  in  terms. 
What  had  he  had  about  him  in  Providence  but  turmoil  from 
the  first, — a  turmoil  lately  quite  maddening,  even  to  Williams 
himself,  from  the  vagaries  of  a  certain  Samuel  Gorton  ?  This 
Gorton, originally  a  clothier  or  tailor  in  London, then  one  of  the 
Boston  Ant  inomians,  then  a  trouble  in  New  Plymouth  till  they 
luiiiished  him,  then  a  torture  even  to  the  Rhode  Islanders  till 
they  publicly  whipped  him,  had  at  length  flung  himself  upon 
Providence  and  the  neck  of  Roger  Williams.  It  was  a  sore 
trial  for  that  arch-libertarian.  "  Master  Gorton,  having  foully 
abused  high  and  low  at  Aquetnet,"  wrote  Williams  to  Win- 
throp,  Mar.  8, 1 641-2," is  now  bewitching  and  bemadding  poor 
Providence."  Some  of  the  Providence  people  even  appealed  to 
Massachusetts,  desiring  to  be  taken  into  the  protection  of  that 
colony,  so  as  to  be  under  some  sort  of  effective  government, 
and  delivered  from  Williams  and  his  principle  of  Liberty. 
Massachusetts  liked  the  proposal,  and  began  to  stir  in  it.  But 
Williams  had  faith  in  his  principle  ;  a  sufficient  number  both 
of  the  Providence  people  and  of  the  Rhode  Islanders  had 
faith  in  it ;  and  in  1 643  it  was  resolved  to  send  over  Williams 
himself  to  England,  to  represent  their  case  to  the  King  and 
I  'ail  lament,  and  endeavour  to  procure  a  charter  uniting  all  the 
Narraganset  Bay  settlements  into  an  independent  colony.  As 
Williams  <-«>ul<l  not  safely  embark  from  a  New  England  port, 
he  went  to  wait  for  a  ship  in  the  Dutch  possessions,  south- 
west from  New  Haven.  Here  he  found  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and 
IHT  family,  who  had  just  migrated  from  Rhode  Island  for 
ni"  iv  freedom  or  better  living  among  the  Dutch.  Here  also 
he  was  of  use  to  the  Dutch  as  a  peacemaker  between  them 
ami  th«-  Indian  tribes  of  their  neighbourhood.  At  length,  in 
.hint-  164  3,  he  sailed  from  New  Amsterdam,  now  New  York,  in 
a  I>iu< -h  ship,  humid  fur  Kngland.  It  is  a  pity  he  could  not 
have  taken  poor  Mrs.  Hut*  hinson  and  her  family  with  him. 
In  tin-  voyage  he  amused  himself  with  writing  a  "  Key  to  tlic 
Language  of  America,  or  an  Help  to  the  Language  of  the 
Natives  in  that  part  of  America  called  New  England,  togetJier 
with  brief  observations  of  the  Customs,  Manners,  and  Worxii  //>x 


602  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

of  the  Natives"  When  he  reached  England,  they  were  lament- 
ing the  death  of  Hampden.  Vane,  however,  was  Williams's 
chief  personal  friend  in  England,  the  man  to  whom  he  and 
his  constituents  looked  for  most  aid  in  the  business  that  had 
brought  him  over.  He  remained  in  England  about  a  year,  or 
till  Sept.  1644,  and  during  much  of  that  time  he  was  Vane's 
guest.1 

PRESBYTERIANISM  AND  INDEPENDENCY  IN  JULY  1643  :    THEIR 
PROSPECTS  IN  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY. 

I  regard  the  arrival  of  Eoger  Williams  in  London  about 
Midsummer  1643  as  the  importation  into  England  of  the 
very  quintessence  or  last  distillation  of  that  notion  of  Church 
Independency  which  England  had  originated,  but  Holland 
and  America  had  worked  out.  Our  history  of  Independency 
in  all  its  forms,  on  to  this  quintessence  or  last  distillation  of 
it  in  the  mind  of  a  fervid  Welsh  New-Englander,  who  might 
now  be  seen,  alone  or  in  young  Vane's  company,  hanging 
about  the  lobbies  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  and  the  West- 
minster Assembly,  has  not  been  without  preconceived  and 
deliberate  purpose.  For,  in  most  of  our  existing  studies  and 
accounts  of  England's  great  Revolution  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  I  know  not  a  blunder  more  fatal,  more 
full  of  causes  of  misapprehension  and  unfair  judgment,  than 
that  which  consists  in  treating  Independency  as  a  sudden 
new  phenomenon  of  1643,  or  thereabouts,  when  the  West- 
minster Assembly  met.  Not  so,  as  we  have  seen.  For  sixty 
years  before  1643  Independency  had  been  a  traditional  form 
of  Anti-Prelacy  in  the  English  popular  mind,  competing  with 
the  somewhat  older  Anti-Prelatic  theory  of  Presbyterianism, 
and,  though  not  possessing  the  same  respectability  of  num- 
bers and  of  social  weight,  yet  lodged  inexpugnably  in  native 
depths,  and  intense  with  memories  of  pain  and  wrong.  It 
did  happen,  in  1643,  when  Prelacy  was  removed  from  the 

1  Palfrey,  I.  606-9,  and  II.  116-123  ;  the  Hanserd  Knollys  Society's  reprint 

Gammell's  Life  of  Roger  Williams,  pp.  of  the    Eloudy   Tenent   of   Persecution 

105-119  ;  and  Memoir  of  Williams  by  [1848] 
Edward   Bean  Underbill,   prefixed  to 


PARTIES  IN  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  603 

nation,  and  the  question  was  what  was  to  be  substituted,  that 
tliis  native  tradition  of  Independency  found  itself  dashed 
ist  the  other  tradition  of  Presbyteriauism,  in  such  con- 
ditions that  Independency  seemed  the  pretender  and  upstart, 
while  Presbyterianism  seemed  the  rightful  heir.  This  arose 
partly  from  the  fact  that  Presbyterianism  had  mass  and 
respectability  in  her  favour,  was  at  home  on  the  spot,  and 
had  her  titles  ready,  whereas  Independency  had  been  a 
wanderer  on  the  Continent  and  in  the  Colonies,  had  con- 
tracted an  uncouth  and  sunburnt  look,  had  been  preceded 
by  ugly  reports  of  her  behaviour  in  foreign  parts,  had 
changed  her  name  several  times,  and  was  not  at  once  pre- 
pared with  her  pedigree  and  vouchers.  Partly,  however,  it 
arose  from  the  omnipotence  at  that  moment  of  Scottish 
example  and  advice  in  England.  Anyhow,  for  the  moment, 
Independency  was  at  a  disadvantage.  She  seemed  even  to 
doubt  her  chance  of  obtaining  a  hearing.  Nevertheless,  she 
was  to  be  heard,  and  fully,  in  the  course  of  time.  Not  a 
form  of  Independency,  not  a  variety  in  her  development 
that  has  been  descril>ed  in  the  preceding  narrative,  from 
Brown's  original  English  Separatism,  on  through  Robinson's 
( iongregationaliain  or  Semi-Separatism  antagonizing  Smyth's 
extreme  Separatism  and  Se-Baptism  in  Holland,  and  so  to 
the  consolidated  Robinsonian  Independency  of  the  New 
Knjland  Church,  with  its  outjets  in  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  Anti- 
iioiniaiiism  and  Roger  Williains's  absolute  Individualism,  but 
were  to  have  their  appearances  or  equivalents  in  the  coming 
enntroversy  in  England,  and  to  play  into  the  current  of 
Kmdish  lit.-. 

Tin-  medium  through  which  this  Independency,  and  what- 
e\er  it  invnhed,  had  to  assert  themselves  and  press  for  a 
hearing  was,  first  of  all,  the  Westminster  Assembly.  An 
important  inquiry  therel'me  is,  How  did  the  Assembly,  in 
respect  of  its  composition  at  the  time  of  its  first  meeting, 
stan.l  i. -lat. ••  I  l.< -inn-hand  to  the  controversy  between  Pres- 
byterianism and  Independency? 

hia-mueh  a>  the  Assembly  was  a  creation  of  the  Parlia 

Hiellt    at    a    time    when   the  n;itinn   Was  divided    hetWeell    Parlia- 


604  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

ment  and  the  King,  it  could  not  possibly  be  pan- Anglican. 
It  could  not  be  a  representation  of  all  the  varieties  of  eccle- 
siastical opinion  existing  in  England,  but  only  of  such  as 
would  consent  for  the  time  to  obey  the  Parliamentary  sum- 
mons, and  show  themselves  within  the  Parliamentary  quarters. 
Within  this  limit,  however,  there  was  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  Parliament,  in  its  first  convention  of  the  Assembly, 
to  make  it  rather  composite.  Of  the  119  Divines  originally 
summoned  to  the  Assembly,  about  a  dozen  at  least,  with 
Usher  and  two  English  Bishops  at  their  head,  were  "  men  of 
Episcopal  persuasion,"  favourers  of  Prelacy  and  a  Liturgy. 
By  the  refusal,  however,  of  most  of  these  to  appear  in  the 
Assembly  at  all,  and  the  dropping  off  at  once  of  the  two  or 
three  who  did  appear,  the  Assembly  from  the  outset  was 
able  to  stand  on  what  was,  after  all,  the  real  principle  and 
intention  of  its  constitution,  its  very  raison  d'dtre.  It  pre- 
sented itself  as  an  avowedly  Anti-Prelatic  Council,  in  which 
the  extinction  of  Prelacy  was  a  unanimous  foregone  conclu- 
sion, and  whose  discussions  were  to  start  from  that  point. 
Well,  when  the  few  Prelatists  had  dropped  off,  and  the 
Assembly  had  assumed  its  proper  Anti-Prelatic  character,  how 
did  it  stand  in  respect  of  the  two  forms  of  Anti-Prelacy  that 
were  competing  for  the  succession  ? — I.  THE  PRESBYTERIANS 
IN  THE  ASSEMBLY.  These  were  overwhelmingly  in  the 
majority.  It  might  be  unfair  to  say  that  the  Assembly 
was  packed  with  Presbyterians ;  for  perhaps  the  Parliament 
did  not  in  tend  any  such  packing,  but  had  really  made  the 
most  suitable  selection  in  its  power  from  the  most  popular 
Puritan  divines  it  could  hear  of  all  over  England,  at  the  rate 
of  two  from  each  county.  The  phrase,  however,  suggests  the 
reality  ;  for  the  most  eminent  Puritan  divines  at  hand,  within 
hail  of  the  Parliament,  were  of  that  moderate  Nonconformist 
stamp  which  had  managed  with  more  or  less  difficulty  to 
subsist  in  England  through  Laud's  rule;  i.e.  they  were 
Presbyterians,  as  distinct  from  Separatists.  If  105  Divines 
remained  nominally  on  the  lists  of  the  Assembly  after  the 
few  Prelatists  had  withdrawn,  then  100  of  these  were  Presby- 
terians. Dr.  Twisse,  the  Prolocutor  of  the  Assembly,  was  a 


PARTIES  IN  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  605 

Presbyterian;  the  five  Smectymnuans  (Marshall,  Gala  my, 
Young,  Newcomen,  and  Spurstow)  were  all  in  the  Assembly  ; 
and  among  the  other  most  active  Presbyterians  in  it  were 
Arrowsmith,  Burges,  Caryl,  Cheynel,  Conant,  Gataker, 
Gouge,  Harris,  Herle,  Hill,  Hodges,  Palmer,  Reynolds,  Sedg- 
wick,  Staunton,  Tuckney,  Vines,  White,  and  Whi  taker.  - 
II.  INDEPENDENTS  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY.  There  had  been  a 
private  effort  to  secure  some  efficient  representation  of 
Independency  in  the  Assembly  thus  dense  with  Presby- 
terians. In  September  1642,  a  letter,  signed  by  five  Peers 
and  thirty-four  other  persons  (among  whom  were  Oliver 
Cromwell,  Arthur  Haselrig,  and  Nathaniel  Fiennes),  had 
been  sent  to  New  England,  earnestly  requesting  that  Mr. 
Cotton  of  Boston,  Mr.  Hooker  of  Hartford,  and  Mr.  Daven- 
port of  New  Haven,  would  come  over  to  assist  in  "  the 
settling  and  composing  the  affairs  of  the  Church."  Daven- 
port would  have  gone,  but  could  not  obtain  leave  from  his 
congregation  ;  Hooker  "  liked  not  the  business,  nor  thought 
it  any  sufficient  call  for  them  to  go  three  thousand  miles  "  ; 
Cotton  would  not  go  alone.  When,  therefore,  the  West- 
minster Assembly  was  constituted,  all  that  could  be  managed 
by  those  in  Parliament  who  were  interested  was  to  procure 
the  return  to  the  Assembly  of  the  five  English  Congrega- 
tionalist  ministers  who  had  recently  returned  from  Holland  : 
vi/.  Thomas  Goodwin,  Philip  Nye,  William  Bridge,  Jeremiah 
Burroughs,  and  Sidrach  Simpson.  These  five,  the  most  mild 
and  moderate  of  all  to  whom  the  name  of  "  Independent  " 
could  be  applied,  the  least  removed  from  the  Presbyterians, 
were  the  sole  wedge  of  Independency  among  the  divines 
of  the  Assembly  at  its  outset.  Their  views  were  favoured, 
however,  by  some  of  the  lay  members,  including  Viscount 
Saye  and  Sele  and  Sir  Harry  Vane.1 

One  observation  more  on  the  composition  of  (he  Assembly  : 
—  A  few  of  the  members,  whether  1'ic.sl.ytciianor  IiidrjM-inl.'Mt 
in  the  main  matter,  came  to  be  distinguished  by  a  collective 
in.lji  -aiini;   that  they  wore  their  colours,  whether  of 


'.    Hi.st.   III.    JI(J-7,       «uti,n:    liaillie.  II.  110;  Neal's  Pun- 
foot'*  and  (Jillespio'H       tans.    Ill     130     1  :::..    .».!   258  el  tea.; 
Note0  of  the  Wertminater  Assembly,       1'alfroy'a  Now  England,  I.  581-2. 


606  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

Presbyterianism  or  of  Independency,  with  a  difference  from 
the  rest.  They  were  called  THE  ERASTIANS,  from  a  notion 
that  they  held  views  of  the  relations  between  Church  and 
State  like  those  which  had  been  propounded  by  the  Swiss- 
German  theologian  and  physician  Erastus  (1 524 — 1 583),  and 
maintained,  after  him,  by  some  of  the  more  eminent  of  the 
English  Eeformers.  The  essence  of  Erastianisin,  or  what  had 
come  to  be  called  Erastianism,  was  that  all  power  of  discipline, 
ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil,  belongs  ultimately  to  the  State,  the 
Church  not  being  independent  of  the  State  by  Divine  constitu- 
tion as  an  imperium  in  imperio,  but  being  only  the  ecclesiastical 
department  of  the  State's  service,  or  the  State  itself  acting 
ecclesiastically.  Hence  the  office  of  pastor  or  minister  in  a 
congregation  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  essentially  coercive 
or  judicial,  but  only  as  instructive  or  persuasive,  like  that  of 
a  professor  among  his  pupils,  and  the  right  of  excommunica- 
tion, suspension  from  church -member  ship,  or  other  so-called 
spiritual  penalty,  did  not  belong  to  the  Church  in  herself, 
but  only  by  deputation  from  the  State,  and  subject  to  revision 
by  the  State.  One  can  see  how  any  one  in  the  Westminster 
Assembly  holding  such  views,  or  any  modification  of  them, 
would  inevitably,  whether  a  Presbyterian  or  an  Independent 
in  the  main,  be  led  into  eccentric  positions.  Accordingly  the 
little  band  of  Erastians  in  the  Assembly  are  seen  zigzagging 
across  the  line  of  main  division  and  causing  complications  of 
the  main  controversy.  Among  the  divines  of  the  Assembly 
there  seem  to  have  been  but  two  avowed  Erastians  :  viz.  Dr. 
Lightfoot  and  Mr.  Coleman,  both  of  them  Rabbinists  and 
Orientalists,  and  both  belonging  on  the  whole  to  the  Presby- 
terian majority ;  but  Erastianism  had  its  adherents  among 
the  lay-members,  and  especially  among  the  lawyers.  Bulstrode 
Whitlocke  and  Oliver  St.  John  were  of  the  number ;  but 
Selden  was  the  chief.  The  position  of  this  great  scholar  and 
wit  in  the  Assembly  was,  indeed,  altogether  peculiar.  For 
a  long  while  he  took  a  delight  in  attending  the  meetings  of 
the  Assembly,  and  joining  in  the  debates,  but  mainly  for 
the  purpose  of  seeing  fair  play,  or  rather  of  perplexing  the 
divines  equally  all  round  by  his  subtlety  and  learning. 


PARTIES  IN  THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  607 

"  Sometimes,  when  they  had  cited  a  text  of  Scripture  to 
"  prove  their  assertion,"  says  his  friend  and  fellow-member, 
Whitlocke,  "  he  would  tell  them,  '  Perhaps  in  your  little 
"  pocket  Bibles  with  gilt  leaves '  (which  they  would  often 
"  pull  out  and  read)  '  the  translation  may  be  thus,  but  the 
"  Greek  or  the  Hebrew  signifies  thus  and  thus ' ;  and  so  would 
"  totally  rout  them."  There  may  be  a  little  mischief  in  this 
memorandum  of  Whitlocke,  for  there  were  good  Hellenists 
and  Hebraists  in  the  Assembly  besides  Selden ;  but  it  is  in 
the  main  accurate.  Fuller's  account  is  to  the  same  effect. 
Among  the  difficulties  of  the  Assembly  he  specially  mentions 
what  was  complained  of  in  Selden  :  to  wit,  "  that,  advantaged 
"  by  his  skill  in  antiquity,  common  law,  and  the  Oriental 
"  tongues,  he  employed  them  rather  to  pose  than  profit, 
"  perplex  than  inform,  the  members  thereof."  And  Fuller, 
as  usual,  shows  that  he  understood  the  man.  "  This  great 
"  scholar,"  he  adds,  "  not  overloving  of  any  clergymen,  and 
"  least  of  those,  delighted  himself  in  raising  of  scruples 
44  for  the  vexing  of  others ;  and  some  stick  not  to  say 
"  that  those  who  will  not  feed  on  the  flesh  of  God's 
"  Word  cast  most  bones  to  others,  to  break  their  teeth 
"  therewith."  This  is  slyly  expressed,  but  it  depicts  Selden 
to  the  life.  It  was  not  because  he  was  fond  of  the  soft 
or  nutritive  parts  of  Scripture  himself  that  he  called 
the  attention  of  others  chiefly  to  the  hard  parts  or  bones. 
He  was  at  heart  a  kind  of  Latitudinarian  or  Freethinker. 
Above  all,  he  was  a  clergy-hater.  "  The  clergy  and  the 
1  laity  together,"  he  said  in  one  of  his  morsels  of  table-talk, 
11  are  never  likely  to  do  well.  It  is  as  if  a  man  were  to 
44  make  an  excellent  feast,  and  should  have  his  apothecary 
"  and  his  physician  to  come  to  his  kitchen :  the  cooks,  if 
"  they  were  let  alone,  would  make  excellent  meat ;  but  then 

<  "Mies  the  apothecary,  and  he  puts  rhubarb  into  one  sauce, 
44  and  agaric  into  another.  Chain  up  the  clergy  on  both 

>i<!  Here  was  Selden's  chief  principle  of  rhuivh 

polity,  which  lir  had  hrld  while  Laud  ruled,  and  whk-h  In- 
held  now  in  a  changed  world.  It  was  more  than  Kra-t  iani>m  : 
but  he  was  loiiLj-hradrd  enough  to  piuss  for  the  nonce  as 


608  LIFE  OF  MILTON  AND  HISTORY  OF  HIS  TIME. 

only  the  chief  of  the  Erastians. —  —They  were  but  a  small 
band  in  the  Assembly  numerically,  but  were  not  to  be  un- 
important. Not  themselves  believing  (at  least,  the  law- 
yers and  laymen  among  them)  in  any  absolute  or  jure 
divino  form  of  Church  government,  settled  once  for  all  by 
Scripture,  but  thinking  that  the  form  might  vary  with  time 
and  political  circumstances,  they  could  see  a  clear  duty  in 
the  Assembly  reserved  for  them  collectively.  They  might 
have  their  predilections  individually  for  some  one  form  of 
Church  government;  and  the  predilection  of  nearly  all  of 
them,  I  think,  was  for  some  kind  of  Presbyterianism, 
though  among  others  there  was  a  leaning  to  Independency, 
or  even  a  lingering  kindness  for  Episcopacy.  Their  best 
plan,  however,  was  not  to  put  forward  their  own  views 
positively,  but  to  listen  to  the  schemes  of  those  who 
believed  that  there  was  a  jure  divino  form  of  Church  rule, 
weigh  the  several  schemes  thus  tendered,  criticise  them 
here  and  there,  and  in  the  end  vote  for  those  portions  of 
the  scheme  of  their  predilection  which  they  were  convinced 
would  do,  and  those  modifications  of  other  portions  which 
had  been  proved  to  be  reasonable.  In  the  prosecution 
of  this  policy  the  Erastians  of  the  Assembly  were,  in  more 
than  one  juncture,  to  be  brought  into  co-operation  with  the 
Independents.1 

1  Whitlocke's  Memorials,  I.  208-9  ;       and  Gillespie's  Notes  of  the  Assembly  ; 
Fuller's  Church  Hist.  III.  468  ;  Neal's       Baillie,  II.  129  and  190. 
Puritans,  III.  56  and  110  ;  Lightfoot's 


END    OF    VOL.   II. 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  CLARK ,  Edinburgh.. 


MASSON,  David. 


PR 


Life  of  John  Milton. 
(1638-1643) 


3581 
JG 


v.2 


DATE 


ISSUED  TO 


_ 


STORAGE 


MASSON,  David. 

Life  of  John  Milton. 


PR 
3581 

-H3 
v.2